


The Untitled Heian Fic

by tuuli



Series: Heian series [2]
Category: Hikaru no Go
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-01-25
Updated: 2012-02-05
Packaged: 2017-10-30 03:06:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 54,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/327086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tuuli/pseuds/tuuli
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Back in the Heian days, a young man tries to find out the truth about what happened to his teacher, while a young onmyouji faces the mystery of a haunted goban. No pairings of any kind. (Just some love poetry...) Inspired by the movie <i>Onmyouji</i>, and includes a nine-year-old Abe no Seimei.<br/>Sequel to Crossing the Bridge of Dreams</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> ETA: This fic is the sequel of Crossing the Bridge of Dreams - or perhaps it'd be better to say that CtBoD is the prequel of this fic. This caused some complications, as I had in this fic pretty much set down all that had happened before. I'm not sure how well I got all the details to fit, but... trust me, I tried.
> 
> A note about the **timeline** : Sai speaks of Murasaki Shikibu and Sei Shonagon at one point, when he's telling Hikaru that women play go too, and it sounds like he knew them. If Sai was their contemporary, that would mean Abe no Seimei was an old man in his days, as he was born ~50 years before Murasaki and Sei. I plead artistic license. He's nine here, not 90. This story takes place in 930.
> 
> And something of an **apology** : I've done some reading on the Heian age, but I'm hardly an expert. I'm sure there are things here that are totally off. I'm sorry about that. I've done my best, but I can't believe I'd have been able to avoid all the pitfalls.
> 
> (For anyone interested in the Heian period, I could **recommend** Ivan Morris's book The World of the Shining Prince: Court Life in Ancient Japan. An old book, from 1964, and in some ways you can see the age, but it's still an excellent source of information, not to mention a good read. ETA: on later days I've found out that unfortunately all the info in that book isn't quite accurate. It's still the best thing there is in English about the Heian era. ...if you know something better, do feel free to tell me! ^~ )
> 
> And I almost forgot! Many **thanks** to cellophane_ria for all her comments~!

The sun was creeping low on the autumn sky when a man and a boy entered the yard of a grand mansion in Heian-kyo. A bowing servant received them and led them in. The man paid no attention to the servant – in truth, barely even noticed him. Waving animatedly he went on telling the boy of the time he had exorcised a demon in this very same house, occasionally bursting into booming laughter. He only fell silent when they entered a room in which a middle-aged man was waiting for them.

“Ah, Akitada-sama!” He spread his arms wide, and wide was also the grin on his face. “It has been a long time, old friend!”

The old friend didn't quite seem to share his cordiality. “Yes... yes,” he muttered. His gaze kept on wandering round the room. “Good of you to come, Toshirou-sama.” His eyes stopped on the boy, and he frowned.

Toshirou clapped the boy's shoulder. “I hope you don't mind, but I took my nephew with me. I thought this would be a great learning opportunity for him. He is young, just nine years of age, but he is the best student I have ever had, far surpassing those twice as old as him.” He smiled proudly. “His name is Seimei,” he said, and the boy bowed. “And this is my old friend, Sugawara no Akitada.”

“Welcome, welcome,” Akitada muttered. “Come, sit down. Would you like a cup of sake?”

“Certainly! These past days truly have been quite awful, not autumnal at all. What is it with this horrid, lingering heat?” Toshirou sat down and took the cup offered to him, and drank half of it with the first gulp. “Ah!” he breathed. “That's better. You know, I was just telling my boy here about the time I exorcised that snake spirit, remember?” He laughed. “What is it in you that attracts demons? Say, what's the matter this time?”

Akitada took a sip from his own cup and savored it a moment. Then he licked his lips. “Over there,” he said, voice quivering a little, and pointed.

“Hmm?” Toshirou turned to look, but saw nothing but a perfectly ordinary go board. “What? I'm sorry, I don't understand.”

Akitada cleared his throat, and now his voice was more even. “The go board. It's cursed.”

“Truly?” Toshirou's eyebrows rose. “Well, well. _This_ is something new. Tell me more about it.” He took another gulp of his cup.

“It started a few weeks ago. Every time I play a game on it, something strange happens. The air turns chilly, I feel sick to the core, and often I can barely stomach touching the stones, for it makes me feel such an overwhelming sorrow I must leave the room.”

“Isn't this peculiar?” Toshirou muttered, eying the go board curiously. “What say you, boy? Ever heard of anything like this?”

“No, master,” the boy said. “But...”

“But don't worry!” Toshirou exclaimed with a laugh, and raised his cup in a salute to his friend. “I am now here, and I will deal with this.” He emptied the cup, and it was promptly filled again.

“I am certain of that, old friend,” Akitada answered with a smile. “You, you who would be skilled enough to become the head court onmyouji, you will surely face no problems with a thing like this.”

The onmyouji laughed again. “Come now, you flatter me! But it is true that my skills are widely admired. Perhaps, some day, the emperor himself will be impressed enough...”

“That is certainly just a matter of time. And possibly not a long time at all. You know I myself have quite a secure position at the court...”

“Indeed, indeed!” The men shared a smile of mutual understanding. “So, why don't we play a game on this board? I'd like to see this curse at work.”

The smile disappeared from Akitada's face and he swallowed. “Is that... necessary? Can't you just... do... something, and...”

“I need to know what I'm dealing with, first. Come now, nothing bad will happen to you. The greatest onmyouji in the city is here, after all!” He burst into laughter again, and Akitada rose up to fetch the go board. He obviously would have preferred not to touch it.

“Master,” Seimei whispered. “There is...”

His uncle waved with his hand dismissively. “Hush now boy! Watch and learn. A cursed go board, you won't see something like this every day.”

“Yes, but...”

“Shh! Don't bother me now, I need to concentrate.” Toshirou traced a finger on the decorated side of the go board. “A beautiful board,” he muttered. “I must see no harm comes to it.”

The men started a game, and the boy watched them quietly, wondering when his teacher, the greatest onmyouji in the city, would notice the ghost that was sitting right next to him, watching the game with unfathomable sorrow on its face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While I was attempting to figure out how people would address each other in the Heian times (I think it's rather by the title than by name) I suddenly realized that at the age of nine, Seimei would still be called by his childhood name, Douji. I... decided to ignore this. Or perhaps he was so was so precocious that he had his coming-to-age ceremony early. xD Normally it took place around the age of 12.
> 
> An OC-centric prologue, I know... but Hikaru and Akira will make their appearance in the next chapter.


	2. Chapter 1

Elsewhere in the city a young man was enjoying the beautiful autumn evening. The day had been hot, once again, but now that the night was arriving, the air was turning pleasantly cool. He wandered around in the Divine Spring Garden, admiring the blazing colors of the dying leaves, in no hurry to head home after his long day at the university, when he noticed another youngster, approximately his age, hurrying through the garden into the direction of the university. He paid no attention to this other boy, in fact would have barely noticed him if the garden hadn't been at the moment so empty. Soon, though, he saw the other coming back, now even more urgency in his steps.

As he watched the youth suddenly came to a stop, glanced around, and took a step back toward the university, before stopping again and remaining where he was, looking uncertainly back and forth.

Deciding to inquire if something was wrong, he approached the stranger.

“Can I help you somehow?” he asked, and the other gave a start.

“Oh, I...” He glanced around, hesitantly. “I'm not sure... that is, I think I might be a bit lost....”

“Please tell me where you're going, I'd be happy to help.” He gave a bow. “Kamo no Akira, at you service.”

“Umm...” The other bowed as well. “Fujiwara no Hikaru. Eh... this is the Divine Spring Garden, right? And that's the university, but... how was it again, was the university on the garden's western side or on the eastern...?”

Akira stared at him a moment. “Western,” he said then. “You can see that from the sun. It sets into the west, as you know.”

“Oh.” The boy, Hikaru, stared at the setting sun as if he had never come to think of something like this. “Then I'm going that way.” He pointed toward the university. “Can I go through the university area?”

Akira nodded after hesitating a little. “The gates will close soon, but they should still be open, and though the area basically is only for students and professors, there isn't anyone guarding the gates. If you just walk straight through, you'll come to the Suzaku Avenue.”

“Suzaku...” the other muttered. “Hey, that street I know.”

 _As you should_ , Akira wanted to say, but swallowed the words. The central avenue leading to the Imperial Palace, over eighty yards wide, was hardly something anyone who had entered the city of Heian-kyo could somehow miss.

“I could walk with you,” he said instead. “I'm going into that direction myself, and as I'm a student at the university, nobody is going to stop me.”

“Would you?” Hikaru grinned. “That's kind of you. Let's go, then!”

As they walked through the garden, Akira eyed his companion curiously. His initial guess was probably correct: the boy seemed to be around the same age as he, surely no older than about seventeen, possibly a little younger. His clothing was fine and fitting for one of an aristocratic family, though his appearance was somewhat careless: a few loose hairs were falling from underneath his hat, and there obviously hadn't been much thought put into the colors. A member of the Fujiwara clan – but hardly, he thought, of its most prominent branches. Some country cousin, most likely, on a visit from the provinces.

“Is this your first time in the capital?” he asked, to make conversation.

“What?” The boy seemed to have been deep in his thoughts. “No... in fact, I’ve lived here most of my life. I've just been away a while.”

“I see.” He would have wanted to ask more, but as the other seemed reluctant to speak of his business, he remained silent. They left behind the beautiful gardens and entered the university area in silence. 

“Did you attend the university back when you lived in the capital?” he finally asked, deciding to give in to his curiosity. Stupid question, of course – the other didn't seem to be at all familiar with the area. But maybe he'd find out something.

“Me?” For some reason, the boy seemed to find this idea amusing. “Definitely not! Though I did enter the area once, when I played...” Suddenly his expression darkened and he fell silent.

“Yes? Played what?”

“Oh, nothing much,” he muttered. “One game of go with someone.”

“You play go?” Akira looked at his companion with new eyes.

“Doesn't everyone?” Hikaru muttered, still looking somewhat gloomy.

“Are you good?”

“...relatively.”

“I play, too. Relatively well, that is. Would you like a game?”

The sudden suggestion seemed to take Hikaru by surprise. He looked up with wide eyes. “Now?”

“Yes. If you're not too busy, that is. They have a board at the Faculty of Fine Arts. I'm sure there is no one around this time, so we should be able to play one quick game.”

They stopped, having almost reached the gate to the Suzaku Avenue. Right before it stood the Faculty of Fine Arts. Hikaru eyed the buildings with a strange expression. Then he shrugged. 

“I've never been one to say no to a game.”

They walked into the faculty's courtyard and entered one of the buildings. Akira led the way, and Hikaru walked a little behind him, so that he couldn't see the other boy's face.

“Here,” Akira said when they entered a little room. He was feeling strangely nervous and he was quite happy they had not met anyone on the way. “If you'd please...”

He sat down by the go board and reached his hands to take another of the stone bowls, but then he noticed how Hikaru had stopped in the doorway. The unreadable expression on the boy's face had turned almost pained.

“What is it?” he asked, but Hikaru just shook his head.

“This is where we played, too,” Hikaru muttered and finally entered the room. “Just the same place...”

Bad memories? Akira lowered his hands to his lap. “If you don't wish to...” he started, but Hikaru shook quickly his head. 

“No, it's fine.” He sat down at the other side of the go board and took another of the bowls. “Is it alright if I take black?” he asked as he looked into the bowl.

“Fine.” Akira took the other bowl and placed it next to him. He gave a thoughtful look at the other boy, who still appeared somehow shaken. “I guess it is just fair to warn you that I might be a little more than just relatively good.”

A wry smile tugged Hikaru's lips. “The truth? So might I.”

The game started quietly. Black and white stones formed familiar patterns on the board, and Akira subdued a little thrill of joy. It had been a busy day, and he hadn't had a chance for a single game so far. Quickly forgetting his opponent's apparent uneasiness he was soon completely absorbed in the game.

And then, nonchalantly, so stealthily he barely noticed anything unusual about the move, Hikaru placed a stone on the board. He almost played his own stone to a place which seemed like a logical response, but at the last moment he managed to stop his hand, and he paused, staring at the board with a frown. Such an innocent move – not what he would have done in this situation although still not a bad move, but... when he read deeper, it suddenly seemed threatening.

Slowly, he placed his stone right next to that seemingly harmless black stone, and looked up at Hikaru. The boy met his eyes with a tiny, knowing smile, and he pressed his lips into a tight line. This wasn't an opponent he could take lightly. He'd better be careful.

~

The constant clicking of the stones had finally ceased. The room was quiet, save the birdsong from the courtyard and the quiet hum of blood in Akira's ears. No matter how hard he stared at the board, the order of the stones didn't change. He swallowed, and bent his head.

“I have lost,” he admitted.

“Thanks for the game!” Hikaru grinned. “It was great.”

“Yes. Thank you for the game.” Akira was still watching the board. He had played an excellent game, he knew that, and still lost. A two moku loss, it wasn't that much, but still he found it quite incredible. He had seldom come across someone who would be able to play on a par with him like this, and they had all been old, experienced players.

He looked up at his opponent. “Who's your teacher?”

Hikaru gave a start. “Oh, I, that is...” He started hurriedly to pick the stones from the board. “I really must be going now. It's getting late.”

“True.” Akira realized suddenly that the game had taken longer than he had planned. “I hope the gates are still open...”

They hurried out of the building only to find the gate to the Suzaku Avenue locked.

Akira stared at it, exasperated, but Hikaru didn't seem to be too dazed.

“This is a really low wall, you know,” he stated. He followed it a moment and then, stepping on a rock jumped up and pulled himself up to sit on the wall. “Come! Or do you want to stay there?” he shouted down to Akira, who was gaping after him.

Of course, he could have went to find someone with a key, but he rather wouldn't bother anyone – not to mention that while he’d be looking for a key, his strange new acquaintance would probably go his way and leave him behind with all the unanswered questions. So Akira stepped on the rock as well, and with Hikaru's help got over the wall, thankful that there hadn't been anyone close enough to see them.

“A wall that low won't keep anyone out – or in either,” Hikaru stated as they were straightening their clothes after the little climbing exertion. 

“You never answered my question,” Akira pointed out quietly, and Hikaru froze.

“What question?”

“The one about your teacher.”

“Oh. That.”

“Yes. That.” Having got his clothes back into order, Akira shot him a stern look. “You can hardly be self-taught.”

“Yeah, true... but you know, I really must be going now...”

Akira gave a sigh. Avoiding the question like that was quite annoying, but pressing on would be rude. He decided to give up. For now. “Which way are you going?” he asked instead. “Will you be able to find your way from here?”

“Oh, it's not a problem. I'll just follow the Avenue to the Third Street and then turn, wait a minute... that way.” 

Akira blinked. “Are you sure? That's the western part of the city...”

“Sure.” Hikaru gave a little bow. “Thanks for your help, and for the game too. It was fun.”

“But...” Akira looked after him confusedly. “Why are you going there? This time of the day, too! And... where do you live? I'd like to...” he swallowed, “play with you again some day.”

Hikaru looked back, grinning. “That would be fun. I don't remember the exact address, but I'll be staying somewhere close to the western border, near the Third Street. See you!”

He walked away with a wave of his hand, leaving the other boy stare after him in great confusion.

~

Perhaps, Hikaru reflected as he hurried down the desolate streets, that Kamo guy was right to be surprised about him heading to this direction. The area hadn't been the best part of the city when he had lived there, and the past couple of years he had been away had really been harsh to it.

There were even more abandoned houses there now, and it was quite clear that most of those living there weren’t the original owners of the houses, but homeless ones who had taken them over after they had been abandoned. (Then again, he reminded himself, the same was quite true for his family, so perhaps he shouldn’t judge these people too harshly.) Here and there fires had destroyed some of the old wooden buildings, and nobody had bothered to clear the ruins. Gardens and parks grew wildly, and in the darkening night for a moment he was worried he might get lost even in this once so familiar neighborhood.

Then, to his great relieve, he saw the house he had called home for the most of his life. And there were indeed people living in this house. There were lights burning, and someone had taken good care of the yard. But then he stopped, and fear grasped his stomach as he realized the neighboring buildings had burned down.

He stood still for a moment, and then ran straight into the yard. “Hey!” he yelled. “Anyone home? I'm...” He was about to enter the house when, with a startled beat of his heart, he found himself face to face with a stranger.

“Yes?” the man asked gruffly, blocking firmly his way. “What do you want?”

“Ah, I...” he stammered, “I used to live here, and... I... I mean, is...”

“Hikaru?” came a female voice from somewhere behind the man. “Is that Hikaru's voice?”

“What...?” the man said, turning to look behind and so opening the view into the house. “Do you mean...”

“Hikaru!” Someone dashed by the man and was in an instant hanging on Hikaru's neck. “You came back!”

“I... ah, Akari?! Hey, calm down!” Hikaru tried to push her away, but he was smiling. “Hey, look at you! You've grown... smaller.”

“You're the one who's grown taller!” Akari exclaimed with a laugh. “Come in! Oh.” She suddenly remembered the man again. “Oh. This is my brother-in-law, Taro. And this...”

“Must be the famous go prodigy,” the man said with a grin. “Welcome home.”

“Um, thanks.” Hikaru was about to step in. “Is mother...”

And at that instant, the previous scene was replayed, as suddenly Hikaru's mother appeared and flung herself on her son's neck. Between the double attack of his mother and Akari, it took a while until Hikaru managed to put in a sensible word, or even to get his shoes off to enter the house. A little later, once everyone had gotten over the excitement, he got a late dinner, and news he truly hadn't been expecting.

“It's been almost five months since the fire,” Mitsuko, Hikaru's mother, was saying. “We tried to send you a message, but apparently it never reached you. And Akari tried to go to meet your... your friend,” his mother still seemed to be at a loss how to talk about Sai, “but he was staying at the palace then and she couldn't reach her.”

Hikaru shook his head sadly, staring down at his food. He had suddenly lost his appetite. “I would have come sooner if I had known.”

His mother sighed. “It was such a horrible fire. I was afraid it would destroy the entire neighborhood, but luckily the wind was on our side. But our neighbors' houses were completely burned down, as you saw. And Masao...” Her voice broke, and she fell silent.

“We are forever in your family's debt,” Akari's sister Akane said, bowing down. “Without your father, I would never have gotten out in time, and it was when he and our father went to help our mother that the... the ceiling collapsed, and...” She found herself unable to go on either, and her husband placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Hikaru swallowed, uncomfortable. This homecoming was nothing like he had used to imagine. He had never been close to his father and couldn't really fathom if he truly felt any real sorrow for the man's passing. Mainly it was just weird – he wouldn't ever have believed that his father would die such a heroic death. The thought made him feel vaguely guilty.

This, he realized a little belatedly, and his uneasiness grew, meant that he was now the head of the family. Not much of a family, of course... just he and his mother. But still. He looked at Akari. “So... are you now living here, too?”

Akari nodded. “Your mother was good enough to take us in, after we lost our home.”

“Oh, I'm the one who should be grateful!” Mitsuko put in. “I could have hardly went on living here alone on my own. The rice you sent me certainly came to good use. At first, the girls were spending more and more time playing at taverns, staying late into the night... I never liked it, and I was right.”

“There were some drunkards, one night, at one place...” Akari muttered at Hikaru's questioning look. “But it's alright!” she went on hurriedly. “Taro was there and... intervened.”

The man gave them an easy grin. “Those louts had no clue how to treat respectable musicians – but I guess I should be grateful for them. Thanks to them I easily got into the good graces of the pretty zither player I'd admired many a night.”

Akane blushed and looked down, and Akari placed her hand on her mouth to cover her giggle. Mitsuko smiled. “It's been a great relieve since Taro and Akane got married. He has work as a carpenter, and the girls have been out playing only occasionally. But I, I've been so sickly and not in the condition to work, just one more mouth for them to feed, and... It is so good to see you again” she changed the subject abruptly and smiled fondly at her son. “How long will you stay?”

“I... I'm not sure.” Hikaru shifted nervously. “I didn't have any exact plans, and... I guess, now...”

“You have to tell me everything!” Akari exclaimed. “We were so excited when we received your letter. Can it really be true? It sounds like a fairytale or something. Are they really adopting you into the clan or did you just make it up?”

Hikaru snorted. “Of course I didn't! Though... it's not completely official yet.”

“It is truly a formidable thing.” His mother smiled again, but this time the smile didn't quite reach her eyes. “I would never have believed my son to go so high in the world. But no matter; I'm just so happy to see you again.”

Hikaru returned her smile a little weakly.

~

Back at Sugawara no Akitada's mansion, Abe no Toshirou stared at the offending go board with an exasperated expression. He had went through all his incantations, used every bit of exorcism he knew, but nothing worked. He would have wanted to say that Akitada was imagining the whole thing, but he had seen the effect this board had on his friend. It could hardly be faked.

He tapped his chin with his fan and frowned. Perhaps they should, after all, simply destroy the board. Of course, destroying cursed things could be tricky, and it was a beautiful board, it'd be a shame. But maybe it couldn't be helped.

He opened his mouth. “I think...” he said, but then Seimei muttered, quite quietly, “Such a stubborn haunted go board it is,” and he snapped his mouth shut and whacked the boy softly with the fan. 

“Hold your ton...” He fell silent. Haunted?

“Would you leave us alone for a moment?” he said to Akitada. “My spells might work better if there are only those skilled in the ways of onmyoudo present.”

Akitada rose and left, not at all reluctantly. Toshirou turned his frown toward the boy.

“What do you mean, _haunted_?”

“There is a ghost attached to this go board,” the boy replied calmly.

“A ghost?” Toshirou swallowed. He hadn't felt anything like that – but then again, the boy had been able to see spirits since he was five. “Why didn't you say anything earlier?”

“You told me to be quiet. Besides, would you have wanted me to tell Akitada-sama I can see something you can't?”

Toshirou bit his lip and shot an angry glare at the boy. At times, he found himself almost loathing this nephew of his. The boy was gifted, definitely, and having such a promising student would certainly help his reputation, but looking at that detached young face he couldn't help feeling that the boy was silently mocking him. They said his mother was a _kitsune_. As far as he knew, it might be true. The boy surely was foxy enough.

“A ghost, you say? Tell me more about this ghost.” He settled cross-legged by the go board and looked at the boy expectantly.

“A man, quite young,” Seimei said, looking somewhere behind his shoulder, and he resisted the urge to look back. “Dressed like a nobleman. But he has a very long hair. Some women would be jealous of him.”

“Anything else? What does he feel like?”

“Sad,” Seimei answered softly. “I can feel nothing but immense sorrow from him.”

Toshirou twitched nervously. “Is he listening to us?” He didn't like the idea that there was someone, something in the room that he couldn't sense.

The boy shook his head. “No. He isn't paying any attention to us, he is just watching the go board. When your friend was here...” he hesitated.

“Yes?” Toshirou urged him one. “When Akitada was here?”

“He did at times watch Akitada-sama. Sometimes, maybe, with a little bit of anger. But mainly sorrow.”

“Hmm.” Toshirou tapped his chin with the fan and thought. “Go get Akitada back here,” he said then.

When the boy came back with the nervous man, he was sitting by the go board with an unruffled, almost regal air. “I have solved your problem,” he declared casually, and Akitada's face lit up.

“Really? How wonderfu...”

Toshirou raised his fan and the man fell silent. “Or perhaps it is more correct to say that I have found out what is wrong. Tell me, my friend, do you happen to know a young man, perhaps a go player, who has extremely long hair?”

Akitada paled and wavered. He sat down, too – or, rather, slumped down as his legs gave way. “Is he... rather pretty for a man?” he asked hoarsely.

Toshirou looked at the boy who was standing behind Akitada's back. “Yes,” he confirmed as the boy nodded. “He is.”

“What...” Akitada swallowed. “What about him? Is he behind this?”

“He is here,” Toshirou stated blandly. “As a ghost.”

Akitada paled even more, if possible. “Gh...ghost? Did he... did he _kill_ himself?” He let out a sudden, nervous giggle. “That young fool!”

“It would appear so. What can you tell me about him? What's his name?”

“Name? Fujiwara no Sai.” Akitada almost spit it out. “He was this young thruster from the provinces... The emperor appointed him as a co-teacher with me, can you imagine? But I managed to convince his majesty that there is no need for two teachers, and so we played a game to decide who would get the post. He lost, even though he cheated, and so he had to leave the palace. I haven't heard anything of him since then.” 

“I see. Well, then it is clear what we must do.”

“It is?” Akitada looked up hopefully.

Toshirou nodded. “Find his body and give him a proper funeral.”

“Find his body?” Akitada gaped. “And how are we supposed to do that?”

Toshirou shrugged. “There are many ways. One of the simplest is, of course, to ask the police if anyone has reported finding someone who fits the description. You can do that tomorrow. In the mean time, I shall attempt to find him in my own way.”

Akitada's expression darkened further. “Quite a lot of trouble because of someone like him. I should go to the palace tomorrow – the emperor has been sick, but he might want to play some go after a long break.”

“Sick?” Toshirou asked with interest. “I haven't heard anything about that.”

Akitada looked a little ill at ease. “We've tried to keep it quiet, though I don't know how long that'll be possible.”

Toshirou's eyebrows rose a little. “Is it that bad?” As Akitada said nothing, just shrugged uncomfortably, he went on, thoughtfully, “We should talk more about this. You know, we might have our chance here to...”

“I know,” Akitada cut him off, a little sharply. “But first I want to get rid of this ghost. Are you sure you can't just banish it somehow?”

“It's not that simple.” Toshirou's voice was stern. “One should always take ghosts seriously. You should know this – have you already forgotten the mess your own relative caused after his death? All the destruction the angry spirit of Sugawara no Michizane caused at the palace?”

Akitada flinched. “Certainly this can't be such a difficult case...” he muttered, and Toshirou laughed out.

“Hopefully not! But let us commence the search. Tomorrow, go to see the police. Actually, ask the people who take away the corpses from Rashomon, too. Oh, and remember that if some lowlife found him first, they might have cut his hair to sell it, so don't base your description just on long hair.”

As Akitada left them, visibly shaken, he sat a long while in silence, deep furrows on his brow. This would not be as simple as he had made it sound. The easiest way would be to follow the ghost to the corpse, but if the ghost was attached to the go board, that would hardly work. Once again he thought, briefly, about destroying the board, but that would be too rash. He muttered an incantation that at least gave him the ability to see the ghost – not very clearly, as second sight had never been his strongest point, but at least he didn't anymore have to try to guess its whereabouts. Next, he moved on to different spells that should break the ghost's fixation on the go board, but they didn't seem to have any effect.

“Bloody stubborn fellow,” he finally muttered, slapping his knee angrily with the fan. “I can't think when my throat is this dry. Oy!” he yelled. “Bring me more sake!”

The servants hurried to carry out the command of their master's friend. Raising the cup to his lips he eyed the ghost darkly. Demons were one thing, in the end quite easy to deal with, but he had never liked ghosts. In his experience, only stubborn, difficult people turned to ghosts when they died, and death hardly improved their character.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... Hikaru won the first game against Akira. One should note, though, that he was playing black and there was no komi rule back then – if there had been, Akira would have in fact won.
> 
>  **Rashomon** was the main gate of Heian-kyo, a large, two-storied gate from which the Suzaku Avenue started. It was also the place to abandon unwanted bodies, which were left on the upper floor. I’m... not totally sure what to think about that, really. Creepy.
> 
>  **Sugawara no Michizane** (845-903) was a politician in the times of Emperor Uda (i.e. the father of the current emperor, Daigo, in my story). When the emperor died, Michizane's political enemies managed to make him lose his position at court and he was demoted from his rank of junior second to a minor official post in the provinces, where he died two years later. Later, plague and drought spread and Emperor Daigo's crown prince died. Lightning struck the imperial palace, and several Important People were killed in the subsequent fires, including Michizane's chief adversary. Personally I would find this a bit more impressive if these things had happened right after Michizane's death, but e.g. the lightning took place in summer 930, 27 years after he'd died (and, btw, just a few months before this story starts, so I just had to mention it.) Anyway, all this was attributed to the angry spirit of Sugawara no Michizane. They posthumously restored his title and he was promoted to senior second rank, but even this wasn't enough, and 70 years later he was made the prime minster. A Shinto shrine was built for him, and he became the patron god of calligraphy, poetry, and of those who suffer injustice.


	3. Chapter 2

The next day Hikaru got up early and left right away “to take care of some business”, as he put it. The neighborhood didn't look quite as gloomy in daylight as it had appeared previous night, and, encouraged, he walked briskly on. Maybe other things wouldn't be as bad as he had feared, either.

As he reached the Suzaku Avenue, he stopped to think. He still hadn't made his mind about where to start his search. He looked left, where the Avenue ended to the great gates of the Imperial Palace. He had walked through those gates just once during his life, and hardly as someone who really had any business in the palace area. That first, and not very successful visit, had been due to a bet with his fiends that he would be able to enter the inner palace. All things considered, he'd been quite lucky not to get far enough to get into serious trouble.

It wasn't one of his fondest memories, but despite it all he still headed toward the palace. Things were different now, he told himself. He wasn't just some simple commoner anymore; his teacher had been the emperor's teacher, too. That got to amount to something.

Even if said teacher had, somehow, been disgraced.

He bit his teeth tightly together at the thought and held his head a little higher, walked with a bit more resolution. He stepped in through the gate, and nobody gave him a second look.

As he walked into the courtyard, his steps slowed down, though, and in the end he stopped, hesitating. He knew nothing about the place – where to go now? As he stood there, wondering, he saw two men exit a building and head toward the gate. Court nobles, one of them sixth rank, based on the green of his clothes, but he couldn't remember what rank the other's colors corresponded to. As they walked by him, he bowed hastily.

“Excuse me...”

The men stopped. “Yes?”

He bowed again. “I am looking for someone, but I don't quite know where to start. I was wondering if you'd be as kind as to help me, if it's not too much of trouble.”

The men gave him polite smiles and bows and assured him they'd be delighted to be of help. “Who is it you're looking for?”

Hikaru swallowed. “Fujiwara no Sai.” The men's smiles died away, and he straightened his back. “He was the emperor's go teacher, but... I hear... something happened.”

One of the men, the green-clad one, gave a laugh. “Something happened, indeed! You don't find him here anymore. He is supposed to have left the capital. Good riddance, truly!”

Hikaru bit his lip and forced back an angry retort. “He hasn't returned to his home yet. In fact, no one's heard of him at all.”

The man shrugged. “I don't know where he is, nor am I interested. The nerve he had, to cheat in the holy presence of the emperor!”

“Sai's not a cheater!” Hikaru snapped. “He'd never cheat in any game!”

“Oh?” The man raised his eyebrows. “You sound like you know him well.”

Hikaru remained silent for a moment. “He is my teacher,” he said then, firmly, staring the man into eye as if daring him to say anything.

Unaffected by his glare, the man laughed. “His teacher?” he said to his companion. “Isn't _that_ something to brag about.”

The other man frowned. “Fujiwara no Sai has not been seen here since the night he left,” he said, and with that the two walked away, the green-clad man still chuckling to himself.

Hikaru stared after them, face flushed. Then he stomped away from the palace. 

~

The morning had arrived to the university as well, and students once again gathered to their lessons. Kamo no Akira as well sat among his peers within the faculty of law and listened, quite absentmindedly, the rather heated discussion that had broken out about the Taika Reforms and land distribution. A pointless discussion, in his mind, as the past few hundred years had already proven that the idea of dividing the rice lands evenly among all the citizens simply was something that would never truly happen, but he didn't quite find the energy to start fighting over things that should have been self-evident.

During the lunch, he was sitting alone and munching quietly his rice, when someone sat down next to him.

“You were quiet at class,” the newcomer stated, and he frowned.

“I didn't have anything to say.”

“Really? That happens seldom. But in truth, that was a useless lesson. My father is worried about the level of education here, and he's been talking about taking me out of the university and hiring me private tutors. I must say that if things continue this way, I'd be happy about it.”

Akira said nothing. In fact, to some extent he agreed with what the other was saying, but he didn't want to confess this aloud. Fujiwara no Kousuke, despite his young age, was one of the sharpest students in the university and rather good at go, too, but somehow Akira didn't find it in himself to like this younger boy. He did appreciate the boy's playing skills, but in general found him too rude and arrogant to be pleasant company.

Right now, the boy was watching him with interest in his eyes. “Is something troubling you? You seem a little distant.”

“It's nothing,” Akira muttered. “I just slept badly.”

“Hmm.”

Somehow that single sound managed to be at the same time disbelieving, amused, and a little condescending, but he chose to ignore it. Not in the mood for polite conversation he was about to ignore his companion as well, but then he suddenly realized who he was talking with.

“Say,” he said and turned to face Fujiwara no Kousuke, “you wouldn't by any chance happen to know someone called Fujiwara no Hikaru?” 

“No, I can't say I would. Hikaru. I don’t recognize that name.” Kousuke wrinkled his nose thoughtfully. “Who is he?”

“I wish I knew,” Akira muttered. “I met him yesterday. He's an excellent go player.”

“Oh?” Kousuke gave him an estimating look. “I can look into it, if you want. But we are a large clan.”

“I know, I know.” Akira finished his meal and stood up. “It doesn't matter, really. I was just curious. Did you want something?”

“I was going to ask if you'd like a game.”

“Not... today, if you don't mind. I am quite busy, unfortunately.” It was a lie, of course, but he didn't feel like playing with this boy right now. Instead he took his leave and headed to see their Chinese professor. Perhaps he could turn the lie into truth. The old man's eyesight was growing worse all the time, and he always had tasks for students if he managed to catch them.

~

The day had quickly turned just as hot as its predecessor. Once he had calmed down, Hikaru had managed to find some other members of the Fujiwara clan, but they hadn't been of much use. They had nothing to tell he hadn't already known – that Sai had lost his position and had not been seen after he'd left the palace. Everyone assumed he had headed home, but no one seemed to be too concerned when he told them they had heard nothing of Sai. In fact, their indifferent, haughty attitude was enough to send Hikaru back to the streets, fuming once again.

He had spent a long while wandering around, and after getting lost more times than he cared to count he had finally found the house of a man he remembered to be Sai's friend. It was another disappointment, though – apparently the man did not want to be associated with a cheater, and not only did he have no information to offer, he also implied that he did not wish to receive any more visits from “shady characters” of common origin who called a cheater teacher, which, quite understandably, did nothing to improve Hikaru's mood.

As hours passed, Hikaru's stomach started to growl louder and louder, and finally he gave in and dug out the lunch his mother had prepared him, some fried fish and a few rice biscuits. As he sat in the shadow, attacking his snack with fervor, he thought about the only useful thing that man had said. _If someone's gone missing, you should ask the police, not me._

He swallowed the rest of his rice biscuits and with heavy steps headed toward the imperial police. 

As he arrived at the police headquarters, he almost collided with a man who was just leaving. “Watch where you're going!” the man snapped, and stomped to his carriage. Hikaru shot an angry glare after him, but let it pass.

“Excuse me,” he said hesitantly as he stepped into the headquarters. A young man with some papers in his hands turned to look at him.

“Yes?”

Hikaru bowed. “I'm looking for someone who has been missing for a while. I was wondering if you'd know anything about him.”

“What's the name of this missing person?”

“Fujiwara no Sai,” Hikaru said, bracing himself against the mockery he had come to expect when uttering that name. Instead the constable raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“You too? Isn't this a popular fellow.”

Hikaru stopped and stared at him. “What do you mean?”

The man nodded toward the door. “The man who just left was also asking after him.”

Hikaru stood very still a moment. Then he turned on his heels and ran out.

The man's carriage hadn't, luckily, proceeded far, and Hikaru sprinted after it. “Sir! Sir, wait!”

Running as fast as he could, he reached the carriage, and the man took a peek at him from its windows. He frowned, but still gave a sign to stop. “What do you want?”

“You... you were asking about Fuh-fujiwara no Sai, right?” Hikaru panted, and the man's frown deepened.

“What about that?”

“I'm looking for him too. My name's Fujiwara no Hikaru. He was my teacher. Is my teacher,” he corrected, mentally kicking himself. When had he come to think of Sai in past tense? He'd better be more careful and stop tempting fates like that.

“Ah... I see.” Strange expressions passed on the man's face, finally settling to friendly compassion. “I take it you have not heard of him either? I hope nothing bad has come to him since the... unfortunate events.”

Hikaru let out a relieved breath. Finally someone more sympathetic. “Nobody's heard of him, and we're growing quite worried. Did the police have anything to tell?”

The man shook his head. “Sadly, no. Or maybe that is a good thing. But I have no time for chatting now, I am expected at the palace. I would like to speak with you more, though – would you come over tonight? We could talk more comfortably at my private mansion.”

“Sure! I mean...” Hikaru bowed hastily, remembering his manners. “I'd be honored.”

“Very well. I should be home well before sun sets. But come a little later, so you won't have to wait in the case I'm delayed. My name is Sugawara no Akitada. I live on the Second Street, near the Divine Spring Garden. Jo two, Bo three, Cho thirteen. Just ask around, everyone knows it.” 

Hikaru bowed again. “Thank you very much for your kind invitation.”

Only after the man had left was he beginning to wonder why the name had sounded so familiar. Then he shrugged it off – this man knew Sai, so maybe Sai had once mentioned him. Now, he should decide what to do next. He was tired after all the walking, and as he couldn't think of anyone else who might be of help, he decided it would be best to go home to rest. Of course, it was a bit of a walk, which he really didn't need, but that couldn't be helped.

Once he arrived home, he found only the women there, as Taro had left to his work as a carpenter, building a new wing to some lord's mansion. He sat down with them, but conversation felt somehow superficial and forced, and he found himself wishing he had spared himself the extra walk. Then Akane and Akari shared a glance and excused themselves, leaving him alone with his mother.

“Did you get your business finished?” Mitsuko inquired gently.

“Not yet. But I'm going to meet a man tonight who possibly can help me. Oh! That reminded me...” He looked at his mother a little sheepishly. “I should meet him at the time of the sunset, on the other side of the city. Would you see that I leave on time...?”

She shook her head and gave him a look. “Shouldn't you be able to tell time by now? But don't worry, I will. It won't be good to keep important people waiting. I take it he _is_ important?”

“Well, yes. His name is Sugawara no Akitada. He's... well, I'm not exactly sure who he is, but he's currently at the palace.”

His mother had a troubled look in her eyes. “You associate only with such fancy folk nowadays,” she muttered. “It is so weird... I hope you don't embarrass yourself too badly.”

Hikaru flushed. “I do know how to behave, you don't have to worry, mother.”

“Mother,” she said, as if tasting the word. “How long will you go on calling me that...”

The flush deepened. “What are you talking about? That's not going to change, no matter how many times I'm adopted.”

She smiled a little sadly. “You might come to find such a common background a great burden, some day.”

Hikaru opened his mouth, and then closed it, not knowing what to say. “Do you oppose the adoption?” he finally asked carefully, and his mother's eyes widened in shock.

“Oh, heavens, no! It is such a great thing to happen to you, and I only want your best. But it has been so hard, with you away. I missed you so much...”

“Yeah, well, I missed you too...” he muttered. “But don't worry, I'm not going to forget about you. Once everything is in order, I'll arrange for a better place for you to live, for starters.”

“That would be nice. I like this house, but the neighborhood is turning ugly.” She smiled a little. “What about Akari?”

“What about her?” The blush that had already left his face was back, brighter than ever.

“Oh, come now, you know what I mean,” Mitsuko said with a laugh.

“I can't read minds,” Hikaru muttered and scrambled up. “I want to rest a little before going back. Let's talk later.”

He left his mother sitting alone and escaped out of the room, only to find himself face to face with Akari.

“What about me?” she asked innocently and giggled as his blush deepened again.

“Were you eavesdropping?” he muttered darkly as he hurried toward his own room. “Such unladylike behavior!”

“Oh, but I'm not a lady.” She followed him with light steps and wide grin. “Just a common brat – unlike you. Say, should I call you Hikaru-sama now? Or Hikaru-dono?”

“Shut up, Akari.” He stopped at his door and glowered at her. “That's nonsense.”

“I know.” She stopped smiling. “But it's true. There was a time when I took it for granted we'd be married some day, but now... it's beginning to look quite impossible. It's a shame... but that doesn't mean I wouldn't be happy for you.”

Hikaru's face was, once again, bright red. “You really are no lady,” he mumbled weakly. “How can you be so straightforward?”

She grinned again. “Because you look so cute when you blush like that. I just can't resist. Say, would you play a game with me? I’ve kept our old board.”

Hikaru gave a start. “What is it with people suggesting games out of the blue like that,” he muttered, but shrugged then. “Why not.”

“Great! I've grown better while you were gone.”

He grinned back at her. “Me too.”

The game did not last long and it ended with Akari throwing the stones into the wall in deep frustration. Hikaru laughed, chided 'Akari-no-kimi' for her behavior, and got a rain of go stones as a reply.

~

“His student?” Toshirou asked with interest.

“Yes. So the boy claimed, at least. To me, he seemed just like another rude brat... but I told him to come over, just in the case he'd be useful. If he's not, we don't have to let him in.”

“Oh, he just might be useful.” Toshirou tapped his chin with his fan. “To have someone connected to this Sai would make it so much easier to find his body.”

“Good. I want this to be over.” Akitada's voice was quite strained. “Then, we can concentrate on more important things.” 

Toshirou nodded, giving him a sly look. “Yes. It would be about time. If I just can enter the court circles, we will both benefit quite greatly.”

“Yes... but...” Obviously Akitada's thoughts were still quite taken by their present dilemma. “Do we have to tell the boy about the ghost? I don't want him to start wondering why it is haunting me.”

“Hmm? Oh, I guess that won't be necessary. We can just say that we're looking for him – if he happens to be dead when we find him, too bad.”

~

Akira's prediction had indeed been correct – their Chinese professor had seen to it that he had been busy the rest of the day. He didn't mind it, though; he liked helping the old man, and this also gave him a chance to improve his Chinese. He had returned to the Chinese Faculty after the afternoon's classes and was currently reading aloud a long letter the professor's friend had sent him. The old man himself sat cross-legged on his pillow, listening quietly, eyes closed.

The letter concerned some new views on old Chinese classics, and contained many quotes. In truth, Akira didn't quite understand everything he read, and at times he had to stop to ask for the correct reading of the Chinese signs. When he reached the end, the professor didn't move, and for a moment he wondered if the old man had fallen asleep, sitting. Then, slowly, the eyes opened to a narrow slit.

“Many thanks for your trouble. It has been kind of you to give me so much of your time.”

Akira bowed slightly. “It has been my pleasure. And very instructive.”

“Yes, certainly.” Another of the man's eyes opened a little more and shot an inquiring glance at the boy. “Even though it seems that your mind is not completely on what you're doing.”

“I... I'm sorry,” Akira began with a small start, but the man waved his hand dismissively.

“No matter, no matter. But is there something troubling you?”

“Not really.” Akira paused for a moment, wondering what to say. “I was merely thinking of a game of go I played yesterday.”

The old man cackled. “Did you lose?”

Akira stiffened a little. “Yes,” he finally admitted.

The old man kept on cackling. Slowly, he gathered himself up from the floor and took the papers from Akira. As he started to arrange his things, Akira decided that it was time for him to take his leave, so he bowed his goodbye and headed out. He was just about to leave the room, when he heard the old professor's voice behind him.

“When you meet someone better than yourself, turn your thoughts to becoming his equal. When you meet someone not as good as you are, look within and examine your own self.”

He looked behind his shoulder, but the man wasn't even looking at him, so he left without a word.

As he stepped out of the courtyard of the Chinese studies, planning to head home, to his dismay he saw Fujiwara no Kousuke leaving the opposing Faculty of Mathematics. There was no chance that the younger boy wouldn't notice him, so after hesitating a moment by the gate he gave the other a nod.

“Still busy?” Kousuke asked instead of a greeting, and he frowned inwardly. The boy really should work on his manners.

“Going home,” he replied shortly, and they started walking side by side, in silence.

 _It's not that he were better than me_ , he reflected to himself, still thinking about the previous day's game, and remembering what the professor had said – a Confucian quote, the old man was quite fond of those. _But equal... maybe_. This in itself was quite surprising. And, perhaps, exciting? He glanced at the younger boy from the corner of his eye and realized the other was watching him intently. Now – here was someone who wasn't yet on his level, if ever would be, whether the subject was go or anything else. 

_Look within and examine your own self?_

Perhaps there was something in this. He was careful with his manners, attempted to be modest and never arrogant, but he knew he could be just as single-minded as Kousuke to achieve his goals.

His self-reflection came to an abrupt end when he noticed a familiar figure hurrying through the university area. At the same moment the figure stopped, having spotted him, and for a while they just stood there, frozen.

Kousuke looked with interest from him to the stranger and back. “And this is...?” he said, and for a moment Akira wished him somewhere far, far away. Without answering he walked to the stranger.

“Good evening to you,” he said. “What business do you have here?”

The other gave him an embarrassed grin. “Eh, I'm just taking the shortcut, if you don't mind. I'm going to meet someone.”

Kousuke cleared his throat quietly, and Akira bit back a sigh. “This is Fujiwara no Hikaru,” he said. “Fujiwara no Kousuke.”

The two bowed at each other. He could see the interest gleam in Kousuke's eyes and wished he had never said anything about the stranger's go skills. 

“Nice to meet you,” Kousuke was saying. “Say, which branch of our clan do you represent?” 

Akira shot him a glare. Always so discreet.

“Northern,” Hikaru muttered, looking a little ill at ease, and Kousuke raised his eyebrows.

“I don't remember seeing you in the capital before,” he stated.

“I've been away a while,” the other admitted, and a part of Kousuke's interest seemed to die away.

“Where?” he still asked.

“Kawachi province. But, I'm sorry, I need to be going now... I have a meeting.” Hikaru gave them a quick bow and hurried away before Akira had time to say anything.

“Strange fellow,” Kousuke muttered. “Is he really such a great player? He seems somewhat countrified to me, even if he claims to be from the home provinces.” He sniffed. “I do hope I will be spared any visits to the provinces. It can't be good for your character. Say, are you sure you don't have time for a game?”

Akira wasn't really listening to him. “No, no, thank you...” He looked after Hikaru who had almost left the university area, and made up his mind. “See you tomorrow.” And he rushed away, leaving tight-lipped Kousuke staring after him. 

“Do you this time know where you're going to, or do you need a guide?” he asked as he reached Hikaru.

The other gave him a surprised look. “Don't you have... anything to do?”

He shook his head. “Not really.”

“Well, I'm going to...” Hikaru took a breath and recited, “Jo two, Bo three, Cho thirteen. But if you have time to be playing my guide, I don't mind. I've never been any good with these addresses.”

“It's rather simple, really. You know how the city is divided into different Cho by the streets? Four lines of Cho running east to west form a Jo, and four lines of Cho running north to south form a Bo, and the Cho which share the same Jo and Bo...” 

“Gah!” Hikaru covered his ears. “It just makes my head ache. Besides, knowing the address won't help if you don't know where you are, so could you please just guide me there without a lecture?”

Akira fell silent. “How can you play such great go, if you can't understand even something this basic?” he finally asked, genuinely confused.

“Go is different,” Hikaru replied with a grin, and Akira just shook his head.

“Talking about go, there is one good player whose mansion is in this direction. Very close to where you're going to, if not...” Akira frowned. “You're not going to meet Sugawara no Akitada, are you?”

“Sure I am! Hey, you mean he plays go too? So that's why he knows Sai.”

Akira blinked, processing this. “He certainly plays go,” he said slowly. “He is the emperor's go teacher, you know.”

“Oh? Well, that's – what!?” Hikaru stopped on his heels and stared at him in utter shock. “ _He_ is the emperor's go teacher? You mean he... he's the one that... but...”

Akira faced his shock with growing confusion. “He's the one...?”

Hikaru shook his head as if trying to clear it. “No, nothing. But I... then I... really have to meet him. Let's go on.”

“You mentioned Sai,” Akira said as they walked on. “Did you mean Fujiwara no Sai? Do you know him?”

Hikaru said nothing. As Akira watched his face, stern and withdrawn, he decided to drop the matter for now. “I'd like to play with you again some day,” he said instead. “If you would?”

“Yeah, sure.” Hikaru sounded a little distant. “That would be fun.”

“So... when would be a good time? Are you free tomorrow?”

Hikaru blinked. “Tomorrow? I... don't really know what I'll be doing tomorrow. Maybe.”

Akira let out a confused and a little annoyed breath. “Well, you can find me at the university. I'm usually either at the faculty of law or the Chinese studies. Come by if you have time. We're here.”

“Huh?” It took Hikaru a moment to understand the sudden announcement. “Here?”

Akira pointed. “That is Sugawara no Akitada's mansion.”

“I... see.” The mansion was large, and a rather impressive sight. The white stone wall around it was spotless, and the gate leading inside was beautifully ornamented. Hikaru drew a deep breath. “Well, thanks. I guess I should be going then.”

He didn't move, though. Akira looked at him a moment, gave then a little bow in goodbye. “You'll find me at the university,” he still reminded the other boy. “Good luck with whatever you're doing.”

Hikaru gave a start. “Oh, thanks...” He finally got himself on the move and walked in through the gate.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took me a while to figure out the addresses, even though it wasn't that complicated. ^^;; I just hope I got it right and didn't plant Akitada's mansion in the middle of the university or something. 
> 
> That old Chinese professor... he was supposed to be just some random guy, but I'm kinda beginning to think he is in fact Kuwabara. And Kousuke... that's Ochi, of course, in the case you've forgotten his given name. Very minor character in this story, but he'll pop up at least once in the future chapters.
> 
>  **The university** isn't quite what we think when hearing that word. I'm not sure if there were some age limits (I'll check what the Book says later, but I don't have it at hand right now), but you could enter it as a child, and stay there... well, very long. Sons of the higher ranks could enter it automatically... but I really need to check the details before saying anything else. ETA: Well, I still don't know. I don't anymore remember where I read about children being taken into the university - this certainly wasn't the case back in Sugawara no Michizane's days. But whatever, let's ignore this point for the moment.
> 
>  **Akari-no-kimi:** no kimi is a historical honorific. It was used both for lords and ladies, especially during the Heian period.
> 
>  **Countrified:** People of the capital didn't really think much of the provincials. _Inakabitaru_ (countrified) was the worst pejorative back then. And we're still talking about provincial _aristocrats_ here. I know adoption was common those days, but did a commoner ever get adopted to a noble family... I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised if the answer is no. Hikaru's mother is quite correct... “You might come to find such a common background a great burden, some day.”


	4. Chapter 3

As Hikaru was led into the mansion, he thought hard about what to say, planning to confront the man right away, but when he finally was face to face with Sugawara no Akitada he saw to his surprise that they weren't alone. There was another man in the room, and a child, both of them in the fine clothes of aristocracy, and he stopped, uncertain.

“Come, sit down,” Sugawara no Akitada said. “This is a friend of mine, Abe no Toshirou, and his nephew, Seimei. Toshirou-sama is a skilled onmyouji. He is here to help us find... find your teacher.”

Hikaru froze when he heard the word onmyouji – he did harbor his share of some healthy superstitious fear of anything concerning the supernatural. He shot a careful glance at the man. He seemed friendly enough; a big man with a somewhat round face and non-outstanding features.

“So, you are a student of this missing person?” the man asked with his booming voice, and Hikaru nodded quickly. “Very well! Would you mind if I skip the pleasantries and begin?”

“Begin what?” Hikaru squeaked, imagining all kinds of dark, forbidden rituals.

“I have prepared a simple spell which will help you locate your teacher – if he isn't too far, that is. The bond between a student and a teacher is a strong one, and it is not easily broken, even if... that is, no matter what happens.”

Hikaru swallowed. “A simple... spell?” He almost asked 'does it hurt', but managed to bite that down. “If it helps to find Sai...”

“It certainly will! I have made this spell myself, and though it's simple, it is strong.” The man stood up. “I would have preferred to wait until tomorrow, but Akitada-sama doesn't want to waste any time. Shall we get started, then?”

“Yes, I want to be done with this,” Sugawara no Akitada said, and suddenly Hikaru remembered everything he had been planning to say. 

“Hey, is it true you are the one against whom Sai played that game?” he started. “The game in which they claim he cheated? Because...”

“Come now, boy, look here or I can't do this,” the onmyouji commanded and spun him around.

“But I...”

“Shh! It's better to get started while we have some light left. Now, be quiet.” He held his hand in front of Hikaru's eyes, holding the index and middle fingers up and the others bent, and started muttering something Hikaru didn't understand. He repeated the same thing over and over again until he finally finished in a commanding tone and touched the boy's forehead. “There!”

Hikaru placed a finger on his forehead, confused. “There?”

The man nodded. “Yes. What do you feel?”

“I don't...” Hikaru fell silent and closed his eyes. He _did_ feel strange. As if there had been dozens of little strings tied to him, and they were all pulling him to the same direction. He opened his eyes. “We should go that way,” he said, and pointed.

Sugawara no Akitada laughed aloud. “Brilliant work, my friend!” he exclaimed, and quite a self-satisfied smile spread across the onmyouji's face.

The four of them left the mansion. Hikaru had once again forgotten all his questions and everything he had planned to say to Sai's rival, as the constant pull demanded all his attention. He walked on swiftly and determinedly, and the others followed him in silence.

“Where is he going to?” Akitada finally muttered. “I would have taken my carriage if I had known we'll have to walk this much.”

“If you don't wish to go on, you can return home and leave this to us,” Toshirou replied quietly. For a moment Akitada seemed to consider this, but in the end he followed them quietly.

They did walk long, through the city. When they reached a city gate Akitada hesitated again. “Are we really leaving the city?” he whispered to his friend. “Isn't this dangerous?”

“Don't worry,” Toshirou calmed him. “You're in good company.”

They left behind the gate and the areas outside it where city was spreading, walking toward one of the rivers that ran by capital. Approaching the river Hikaru shivered, suddenly feeling cold. He wouldn't have wanted to continue, but the pull was stronger than ever, and he headed toward the river, heart growing heavier on each step.

As they reached the river bank, Akitada, quite out of breath, cursed quietly. “How will we ever find his body if he's jumped into a damn river?” he muttered.

Hikaru didn't hear him. His eyes followed the river, stopping on a small reedy cove in its bend. He swallowed and walked on. As he reached the bend he didn't stop, but walked straight into the water without bothering to undress first. There, half thrown on the rocks by the river's waves, hidden by the reeds, was a messy lump of white and black. Unable to hold tears back anymore Hikaru slumped down on a rock next to it, afraid to touch it and see what was left of his teacher and friend.

“Well? Is he there?” Akitada called from the shore. “Based on the stench, _something_ definitely is.” Unable to speak, Hikaru nodded, and heard the man cursing on the ground. 

“Seimei,” Toshirou said, “run back to the city and get the first priest you can find. And someone to dig the grave. Oh, and hire us a carriage, too, I don't want to walk all the way back.”

The boy didn't say a word, just nodded and headed away. Hikaru looked up, only now registering what the man had said.

“Priest? Grave?” he asked. “What are you talking about?”

“We have to get him buried,” Toshirou said grimly, “and the sooner the better. No point to postpone it.”

“But... shouldn't we take him...”

“Where? To his home? Surely you don't want to carry him all the way to the provinces... he's been lying around in water long enough. It's good if he even stays in one piece once we get him out of there.”

“But...” Hikaru looked at the mess of black hair, floating unbound in the water. “But you mean we'll bury him here? In the _ground_...?”

“Oh, shut up already!” Akitada snapped. “This guy has already caused way too much trouble for a dead man. What does it matter where or how he's buried?”

Anger flashed underneath Hikaru's sorrow and took over. He jumped up, almost slipping on the uneven river bottom. “Doesn't matter to you, maybe! If it weren't for you, he'd still be alive!”

“I didn't push him into that river,” Akitada said, suddenly quite pale.

“You as well might have!” Hikaru splashed angrily out of the river to face him. “You were the one who claimed he had cheated, weren't you? You are the one who ruined his life!”

“ _He_ 's the one who ruined his life, quite on his own!” Akitada yelled back, red spots appearing on his pale cheeks. “He's the one who tried to climb higher than he could rightfully reach, and he's the one who tried to cheat to keep the position he didn't deserve!”

“You're nothing but a liar!” Hikaru shrieked and raised his arm as if to strike the man, but Toshirou got a hold of him and pulled him around.

“Calm down!” He shook the boy a little as Hikaru tried to struggle against him. “It must be a shock, but still, this is not proper behavior in the presence of the dead. Do you want to shame your teacher?”

“I...” Hikaru swallowed and ceased his struggling. “I'm sorry, but... he _is_ lying, I know he is...”

“ _You_ know he is lying? And who are you to blame a court noble of such things?” Toshirou let go off him. “Now, stay quiet. Once Seimei is back, we'll have a burial. Then, this will finally be over.”

The last rays of sun had disappeared behind the horizon long ago. The moon was almost full, though, and the sky was cloudless, so they did not lack light. Hikaru hunched down by the water's edge, silent and red eyed, staring at the shimmering moonlight without really seeing it, while Toshirou muttered blessings and protections on the ground and the river. Akitada was gradually wandering farther and farther away, holding a sleeve in front of his nose. 

It did take a long while, but then Seimei finally returned, riding on an ox-drawn carriage together with a Buddhist monk, followed by two strong workmen. Once the men had fished the body out of the water the monk, a middle-aged spindly man, dressed in a simple brownish robe, gave it one glance and turned away with a flinch. “You are sure no crime is committed?”

Toshirou nodded. “Suicide,” he said, and the monk shook his head sadly. 

“Are you his relatives?”

Hikaru, who had remained unmoving by the river, finally looked up. “I am – that is, in a way... sort of. At least he was my teacher.”

“And... did I understand correctly? You want a ground burial?”

Hikaru looked from Toshirou to Akitada's dark shadow farther away. “I guess.” His voice was uncertain but resigned. “It doesn't really matter.”

The monk nodded. “Let us then hold a short wake.“

“Wake?” Akitada asked incredulously. “Why don't we just dig a hole and...”

“I did say _proper_ funeral,” Toshirou pointed out. “It is not good to hurry these things.”

“But... what of the payment? I don't want to waste on...”

“I'll see to the payment,” Hikaru snapped. “Just go back to your mansion. Nobody wants you here, anyway.”

That earned him a dark look both from Akitada and Toshirou. “Mind your tongue,” Akitada snapped. “I might point out you would never have found him without our help.”

Hikaru snorted. “And surely it was out of sheer kindness that you were looking for him? Because you were oh so worried? I bet you just didn't want anyone else to find him first and start asking troublesome questions, right?”

Akitada glared at him a moment, but turned then away with a shrug. “I will return to my mansion,” he said to Toshirou as he climbed into the carriage. “There is no reason for me to stay here. I'll send another carriage to wait for you.” 

“Good riddance,” Hikaru muttered under his breath, watching darkly after the man. “Lying bastard.”

As the carriage rolled away, the monk, after one sidelong glance at the glowering boy, turned to eye the body quite grimly. “What a sight,” he muttered. “There is hardly anything that could be done to improve this.” He spread out a large white sheet, had the men move the body on it, and wrapped it into the sheet. Then he turned to Hikaru. 

“You said you're 'in-a-way-sort-of' relative of his? And his student. Better than nothing. I brought incense. You can offer it while I read the sutra.”

The night passed slowly. The monk's unceasing litany, the quiet wind in the tree tops, and the soft rolling of the waves of the river mixed into one otherworldly tone, which made Hikaru drift away, as if he had been watching the wake from somewhere far away. It was a welcome diversion, though. And at least the smell of the incense was strong enough to cover other smells, making the proceedings bearable.  
Meanwhile, the men dug a hole to a place Toshirou pronounced to be the most suitable, and once the monk fell silent and the incense burned out, they moved Sai's body to the grave – a little too roughly, as Hikaru noted in dismay.

“I'm sorry,” Seimei said quietly when the men dropped the body into the grave.

Hikaru looked at him in surprise. So far he hadn't heard the boy say anything at all, and most of the time it was easy to forget he was even present. A moment Hikaru wondered what to say – something like 'It's alright' didn't feel quite correct. “Thank you,” he muttered in the end.

“I would have brought some more suitable people,” Seimei went on, “but it was hard to find anyone who wouldn't have been terrified about the idea of coming out here in the night for something like this.”

Hikaru shook his head tiredly. What did it matter, after all. “The monk, at least, is alright, even if he doesn't look like much. Where did you find him?”

“I know him,” Seimei answered shortly.

Once the grave was covered, the monk burned yet another incense and chanted a little more: both for the person who had passed away and for those who remained behind. Hikaru knelt down by his side, staring at the new grave with increasing numbness. How sure he had been, in the morning, that everything would yet turn out well. Now, he could barely understand what had just happened.

When everything was over, Toshirou climbed on the carriage that had arrived a while ago. “Come,” he said to his nephew. “Let's go to tell Akitada everything's over. I doubt he's sleeping yet.” He looked at Hikaru. “Do you want a ride?”

Hikaru, still kneeling by the grave, shook his head without looking up.

Toshirou shrugged. “Suit yourself. What about you, houshi?” he asked the monk.

The monk shook his head as well. “No. It's not a long walk to the temple.”

“As you wish.” Toshirou gave a sign, and the carriage jerked on the move.

The monk stood still a while, watching after the carriage. Then he turned to the boy who hadn't moved from his position on the ground. “And what now, boy? Shouldn't you be heading home, too?”

Hikaru gave a start; he hadn't realized the man had stayed behind. “I'll go soon,” he muttered. “I...” Then he remembered something. “Oh! Your payment! I... don't have much with me, but...”

“Don't worry about such things. We can talk about payment later. Right now,” the monk knelt down next to the boy, “I'm more interested about the events that led to this curious situation.”

“What's there to say?” Hikaru puffed bitterly. “The 'good people' don't look kindly on those who try to enter their circles. Skill has nothing to do with it, if you aren't born high enough, then you aren't.”

“And what will you do now?” the man asked, and Hikaru paused.

What indeed? Would he return to his mother's home? Or should he head right away back to the Kawachi province, to tell Sai's father what had happened? That was, in the end, his responsibility. He just didn't feel he had the energy or the will for traveling and facing the man with such news.

As he remained silent, the monk scrambled up. “Well, morning is wiser than night,” he said. “Come, let's return to the city. I can find you a place to stay at the temple, if you wish.”

Hikaru stood up, still silent. He followed the man quietly, as he didn't know what else to do. With every step, he could feel the growing distance to the grave – whether it was because of remnants of the spell, or something else, he couldn't tell, but it squeezed his heart almost harder than he could bear.

In this single night, everything had suddenly become worthless. The new life that was waiting for him, the skills in go he had achieved, everything lost its meaning. Perhaps he would simply send a message to Sai's father, and return home. His old home. Back to his mother. He'd get work somewhere, perhaps Taro would teach him carpentry. And maybe he'd marry Akari. That, at least, would make his mother happy.

“Are you giving up?”

The sudden question made him start. He looked up and saw the sideways look the monk gave him. “You said some harsh words earlier,” the man went on.

His gaze dropped back to ground. “Maybe. I know they're lying, but so what? They're powerful people, how could I ever win against them?”

“Conquer the angry man by love,” the monk said softly, looking ahead at the great Rashomon they would soon reach. “Conquer the ill-natured man by goodness. Conquer the miser with generosity.” He paused for a moment before going on. “Conquer the liar with truth. So said the Buddha himself.”

“It's easy to say!” Hikaru burst out. “But how can I find out what the truth is? With Sai gone... he's the only one who could have told me. Nobody else seems to be interested at all in what happened to him.”

“Not even his father?” the monk asked, and Hikaru fell silent, thinking about it.

“He would care, of course,” he said then, “But what can he do? He doesn't have much power, even if he is of the Fujiwara clan. You know what people of the capital think about the people of the provinces, and he _is_ a provincial governor, even if it's one of the home provinces... but what could he do, anyway? Nobody knows the truth except Sai and that man, and Sai's dead and _he_ 's not talking.”

“But nevertheless, the truth exists.” The monk walked on, talking quietly, his eyes still on the great main gate. “In the end, what people know, matters but little – the truth _exists_ , the good and evil people do doesn't change from whether others know about it or not. Everything they do will carry fruit, either in this life, or in a future one. But,” he gave the grim-faced boy another look, “if this bothers you so much, you should not give up so easily. If you search for the truth for the sake of others, it can never be a deed that would carry a bad fruit.”

Hikaru said nothing. He followed the monk into the city, walking silently behind him. As they walked underneath the great gate, he kept his gaze from wandering upward, trying not to think of the dead bodies lying there above them, bodies that nobody wanted and that would end up in a mass grave. He didn't know what to think about it, really – how had this great, beautiful gate, the main entrance to the city, ended up playing such a gruesome role? For a moment he wondered what it told about the city itself, of its inhabitants, so fond of beauty and luxury, that to enter the city one had to walk underneath the rotting corpses of unwanted people.

The monk headed straight to the eastern temple, and Hikaru was about to follow him. Then he stopped. As if sensing this, the monk stopped too and looked behind. 

“Aren't you coming?”

Hikaru shook his head. Bowed. “Thank you for the offer. But... I don't feel like going to rest yet. I'll walk around a little.”

The monk nodded. “Be careful,” he simply said. “This city has sharp teeth.”

Hikaru bowed again and started to wander deeper into the city.

~

Back at Akitada's mansion, Seimei was lying on his bed, wide awake. Once they had returned, Toshirou had triumphantly declared that they were finally finished with this unseemly business – only to find out that nothing had changed. The ghost was still there.

The way Akitada's expression had changed from joyful through disbelief to utter desperation, his face growing gradually longer and longer, had been almost comical. Seimei had, in an exemplary manner, managed to keep his own expression blank, but still Toshirou had shot a sharp glare at him and told him to go to sleep. Which he had obediently done, but he would have given much if he could have found out what those two were talking about, alone. He had tried to listen in, but Toshirou wasn't quite useless as an onmyouji and had taken precautions, and he didn't dare to push too much. Now he sat up, thinking. 

If he could find nothing here, perhaps he should venture elsewhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was a cheerful part indeed to do some research on drowning and decomposition of the body in water... but maybe I won't go into details here, unless someone's interested. :/ I had wanted to make Sai's home province some place father away than Kawachi, but then I realized it'd take too much time for Hikaru to get to Heian-kyo. (First the message about what had happened would have to reach them, then they'd wait a while for Sai, then Hikaru would travel to the capital... and a year's passed, or something.) 
> 
> About the burial: all my sources agree that in-ground burial was quite uncommon in Heian times. Uncommon, of course, doesn't mean it _never_ happened, right? I decided I might get away with it. Nobility were cremated, and the not-important people... well, mainly they were taken somewhere, and left there. A quote: _“Open-air” burial was very common, and in such cases the fact that animals devoured the flesh probably meant that the “aesthetics of decomposition” would have been less of an issue._ Getting Sai cremated would have been tricky... they would have had to move him somewhere else, and overall, as they wanted to get everything done quickly and in silence, I decided this was the easiest way... so in-ground it was.
> 
> Houshi: Buddhist monk
> 
> “Skill has nothing to do with it, if you aren't born high enough, then you aren't.” That made me think about how silly the court rank system was. The rank determined one's post in government (and not the other way round, which would make more sense), and the rank itself was determined, exclusively, by family connections. If your parents didn't hold high ranks, most likely you wouldn't either, no matter how competent you were. And important posts were given away based on pedigree, not ability. For example, once a sixteen years old boy was made the chief of the imperial police. No wonder crime flourished. 
> 
> _Conquer the angry man by love_  
>  Conquer the ill-natured man by goodness  
> Conquer the miser with generosity  
> Conquer the liar with truth  
> From the Dhammapada, which is a Buddhist scripture traditionally ascribed to the Buddha himself.


	5. Chapter 4

It was late in the night, and the city was, for the most part, quiet. Hikaru made his way slowly down the great Suzaku Avenue, then wandered aimlessly to the smaller streets, until he came to a street that had a canal flowing in the middle of it. As he watched the clear water, he couldn't help wondering from which river it came from. Had some of this water passed the place where they had buried Sai?

Well knowing that it did no good to dwell on these things he still crouched down by the canal. Hugging his knees he only now realized his clothes were still wet from the river, the many layers taking their time to dry. He didn't care though, and as the hot weather still continued, the night wasn't too cold. From somewhere farther away he heard the noises of a busier street; distant music, some drunken cries. He closed his eyes and tried to push it all away, to clear his mind and break the vicious circle which always returned to the fact that Sai was gone and there was nothing he could do about it.

Voices got closer, and soon steps approached him. 

“Hey, you okay, man? Drank too much?”

There was laughter. “It's one of the good people, don't you see? Too good to hold a drink down.”

Hikaru stood up. “I'm fine, thanks,” he muttered, still not looking at the men standing behind his back, and started to walk away.

“Hey now, what kind of manners is that? Here we are, worried of your health!” Someone suddenly put an arm around his neck, and he could smell the unpleasant combination of sweat and alcohol. “Come, if you're fine, why don't we go to have a drink together? Fine clothes like that, surely you can get us some!”

Hikaru shook the arm off. “No. I'm on my way home.”

“Boring fellow! Or too good for our company? Hey, I'm talking to you!” A hand grabbed his arm and spun him around. Angry, he tried to pull himself free, and as the hand suddenly let go, he found himself stumbling backward. A grinning face, breath reeking of alcohol, appeared too close to his own, and as he instinctively stepped back he found empty air under his foot. Losing his balance, arms waving wildly, he fell down into the canal with a great splash.

The men, three of them, were laughing hard as he spluttered to the surface. 

“Gods _damn_ you! Help me up!”

The men laughed even harder. “Hey, don't be so cross! It's a nice night for a swim, right?”

Suddenly a fourth figure appeared behind them. “Why don't you take a swim too, then? The way you smell, you could use a bath.” And before the men in their drunken state could realize what was going on, they were one after another tripped into the canal. The newcomer looked down on them with a grin. “Nice night for a swim? I hope you enjoy it.”

The men were shrieking and splashing around, trying not to sink. One of them grasped Hikaru in his dread, almost pulling him below water again, and the boy cursed.

“Dammit, Tetsuo, stop laughing and help me up!”

The young man looked down at him with a grin and bent down to take a hold of his hand. “As you ask so nicely...” He pulled, helping Hikaru back on the dry land. One of the men was still hanging on Hikaru's clothes, trying to get up, and he kicked the man back into the water. “Now, you gotta ask _real_ nice before I help you. Oh...”

The sound of approaching steps made him grasp Hikaru's hand and pull the boy into a run. “Okay, let's go. Let the guards fish those fools up.”

They sped down the streets, ignoring the yells that told them to stop. The guard didn't bother chasing after them, though, and soon they slowed down.

“Why did we run?” another voice asked. “It's not like we did anything illegal.”

“Kimihiro! Great to see you!” Hikaru exclaimed, only now noticing him, at the same time as Tetsuo replied, “I just don't like explaining things to guards.”

“You're all wet,” Kimihiro went on, eying Hikaru worriedly. “You should get home before you catch cold.”

“I'm fine,” Hikaru assured him. “I was wet to begin with. And it's not that cold.” His assurances lost much of their strength when he sneezed. “Anyway, I don't feel like going home yet,” he mumbled, sniffing.

“And you shouldn't!” Tetsuo clapped his back so hard that he almost stumbled. “Why didn't you tell us you're back? Or aren't we good enough for you anymore?”

“Don't talk nonsense... I've just been busy.”

“Anyway, that wimp's right, we need to get some dry clothes for you. Come. I know just the place.”

“Where are we going to?” Hikaru tried to ask, but got no reply. “Kimihiro?” 

He glanced at the other boy who shrugged. “No idea. But you had a perfect timing – I had _just_ managed to convince this fool to go home... now he'll probably stay up all night.”

“So? I can spend one night without sleep if I want to!”

“Without sleep and _drinking_? And still remain in condition to work tomorrow? Your master's wife is quite demanding, and, if you've forgotten, doesn't quite approve of nightly escapades.”

“Ha! As if I'd let that old hag determine what I do and what not!”

“You're not that cocky when it's daytime and you're facing her,” Kimihiro muttered, but was ignored.

“Hey...” Hikaru put in. “Thanks for helping me, but... I... I'd rather, I mean, you don't have to look after me or anything. Just go home. Kimihiro's right, you shouldn't...”

“Here we are!” Tetsuo exclaimed, ignoring him as well, and pushed him into a building.

“Where?” Hikaru asked, glancing around in confusion. “What is this place?” It looked like they had entered some kind of a tavern – through a backdoor.

Kimihiro shook his head, defeated. “I should have known it. I really won't get you home tonight, will I...” he muttered to himself.

A girl appeared in the corridor, freezing when she saw them. Tetsuo grinned at her. “Hello, Miya. Tell granny I'm here, okay?” 

The girl gave him a look and turned around without a word. Soon a wrinkled old woman appeared in her stead. “What is it you want?” she spat out when she saw Tetsuo. “It's a busy night.”

“Nice to see you too, granny.” He pointed at Hikaru with his thumb. “My friend here had a little accident. You wouldn't have anything dry he could wear?”

The woman looked at Hikaru, and after taking in his clothing, definitely that of a nobleman, though at the moment quite ragged, her manner turned immediately more polite and she gave them a bow. “I can certainly find something. Would you wish to stay for a drink while we dry your clothes?”

“I...” Hikaru started, but didn't get farther before Tetsuo cut him off.

“Sure! We can use the usual room, right?”

There was nothing grandmotherly in the glance the woman shot at him. “It is _not_ on the house,” she snapped. “And not on your tab either,” she went on as Tetsuo opened his mouth.

Tetsuo gave her a reproaching look. “What a coldhearted granny I've got! My friend's freezing, he needs a drink to warm up.”

“It's alright,” Hikaru put in. “I'll pay.” He hoped he had enough on him. _And_ reminded himself that he had promised to pay the monk, too.

The old woman gave him an estimating look and nodded. A girl led him to a small room where they gave him dry clothes to change into. When he was ready, he was led into another room, in which Kimihiro and Tetsuo were waiting for him, the latter with a drink in hand. As he sat down, Tetsuo raised his cup. 

“To your return!” he said, grinned, gulped it down. “Took your time.”

Hikaru said nothing, just shook his head at the offered drink.

“Come now.” Tetsuo pushed it closer. “You're paying for it.” As he still didn't take it, Tetsuo finally shrugged and emptied his cup, too.

“It is good to see you again,” Kimihiro said. “I went to see your mother every now and then when you were gone, but she didn't have much news. We've been really curious... and you certainly should have much to tell.”

Hikaru still said nothing. He stared at the floor, hoping he could excuse himself of this situation. His head felt heavy, and he really didn't feel like having a conversation right now.

“So...” Kimihiro went on after the silence grew awkward. “How are you? Did everything go fine?”

“Yeah,” Hikaru muttered. “Everything went just fine – there. It's here in the city that...” His voice broke off. It took him a few tries, but finally he managed to whisper, “We just buried Sai.”

With those words, he felt tears beginning to flow down his cheeks. His friends sat in silence. Then, Tetsuo reached for his cup, poured it full, and gave it to him. Choking back his tears Hikaru grasped it this time, took a gulp, and grimaced. 

“Shit,” Tetsuo muttered while pouring more for himself. “What happened?”

“Haven't you heard? Usually you hear all the gossip... He was banished from the palace. And then he killed himself.” The words came out surprisingly easy, though with considerable bitterness.

“There hasn't been any gossip about something like that,” Kimihiro said. “Though... I think I remember hearing something about some commotion, about some high ranking noble loosing his position or something, a couple of weeks ago.”

“Might have been that,” Hikaru muttered. “Gods, it's just so crazy...”

“Why?” Tetsuo asked. “Some political maneuvering?”

“I don't know.” Hikaru shook his head tiredly. “Maybe. They say he cheated in a game, in the emperor's presence. That's insane – Sai would never cheat. Haven't you really heard anything?” He gave them a begging look. “Anything at all.”

Kimihiro shook his head. “Nothing in addition to what I said. I guess we could try to ask around – but I don't know if we're able to find out anything. We _are_ just commoners, you know.”

Hikaru sighed. “I guess I'll just have to do my best. But I don't even know where to start! Nobody I know has been helpful at all.”

They fell silent, all three of them staring into their cups in gloomy contemplation. Then Kimihiro raised his head.

“Talking about gossip... have you heard the current news?”

“What news?” Hikaru asked without any real curiosity.

“They say the emperor is sick and going to abdicate. And his son, Prince Hiroakira, will receive the succession.”

“The boy is eight,” Tetsuo snorted. “Fine emperor we'll have. Just you wait, the Fujiwaras won't let this chance slip their fingers. A child emperor needs a regent – and once they get that post back they won't let go of it again.”

“What does it matter who does the ruling, as long as they rule well,” Kimihiro stated. Hikaru just shrugged. He couldn't be less interested in who was the emperor.

“Kind of funny, though...” Tetsuo mumbled, staring at his drink. “This chain of events, don't you think?”

“What do you mean?” Kimihiro asked, and Hikaru too gave him a curios look.

“Just think about it! The emperor banishes someone, wrongly, this someone kills himself, and then the emperor gets sick. Doesn’t that sound just like what happened with that Sugawara guy who was unjustly banished?”

“Sai wouldn't do something like that!” Hikaru exclaimed. Tetsuo gave him a look.

“How do you know that? Even a lesser offense would make a vengeful spirit.”

“That's just what I mean, Sai isn't _vengeful_! He wouldn't turn into that kind of a spirit.”

“Maybe he wouldn't,” Kimihiro said thoughtfully, “but would it hurt if people thought so?”

“Huh?” Hikaru gave him a confused look.

“You read my mind,” Tetsuo said with a grin, pointing a finger at Kimihiro. He emptied his cup again. “If we spread a rumor that the emperor is sick because the angry spirit of Fujiwara no Sai is after him... it just might make some tongues loosen. People wouldn't want to share the emperor's fate.”

“I don't know,” Hikaru said doubtfully. “I'm not sure if I like this plan.”

“Why not!” Tetsuo spread his arms, starting to speak more and more animatedly. “The whole story makes sense, I wouldn't be surprised if it even were true. The timing is too convenient! Besides, there is no way of knowing what people are like when they are dead – just because you're sure Sai wouldn't have done something like this when he was alive doesn't mean he wouldn't do it when he's dead. That's a different story!”

“And whether or not it's true, it might help us find out the truth,” Kimihiro agreed.

“Whatever!” Hikaru raised his arms in resignation. “I give up. Do what you want. But I...” He stood up. “I think I'll go to ask your granny if there is any quiet corner where I could sleep.” As his friends tried to stop him, he shook his head. “I'm sorry, I really want to be alone now. Let's talk more tomorrow.”

Tetsuo's granny did arrange a relatively quiet place for him. As quiet as it could be, in the middle of the night in a tavern that was still open. He lay on his mattress, dead tired but unable to switch off his brain as he listened to the noise and racket of people who, among drink and music and beautiful women, had happily forgotten all the burdens of their short lives. At some point he must have drifted into sleep, though, because suddenly he became aware of someone sitting beside him.

“Wha-ah?” He raised his head, drowsily. “What is it?”

“Nothing much,” someone whispered. “I just wanted to ask you something, then you can go back to sleep.”

“Yeah?” He screwed up his eyes, confused, trying to make his groggy brain to work. “Hey, who are you anyway?”

“Weren't you born a commoner?” the other asked, ignoring his question.

“...what do you mean?” He pushed himself half-way up, leaning on his elbow and rubbing his sleepy eyes with the other hand.

“I think you were. One can still see it.”

“Gee, thanks,” he muttered and frowned. “Why do you....”

“Then why did Fujiwara no Sai take you as a student?”

Hikaru froze. Swallowed. “Sai?”

“Yes. Why did he take you as a student?”

“Because...” He closed his eyes, remembering his first meeting with Sai. A bright, hot day of the late summer, much like these autumn days. “Because he saw I loved go just as much as he did,” he whispered.

“And that's it?”

“Yeah.” He opened his eyes again, tried to make out details of the small figure that was bent close to him in the darkness. “That's it.”

“I see. Thank you. Just go back to sleep now.”

Hikaru blinked, and found himself alone. He remained still a moment, half lying, half sitting, propping himself up with his hands, and then, with a sigh settled down again. Strangest dream he'd had for a long while. He closed his eyes and drifted away again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Emperor Daigo (the current emperor in this story) was exceptional in the sense that he ruled by himself. Even adult emperors used to have regents, and usually these regents were of the Fujiwara clan. And true enough, after Daigo things returned to as they'd used to be.
> 
> And... about **money**. A little belatedly I realized they didn't really use it in the Heian period, and I tried to edit out any mention of it. Some money was minted, yes, but it circulated very little... they mainly used some kind of a barter system. I don't have a clue what Hikaru would give to the monk as a payment, or how things would work in a tavern... (eh, surely they had taverns, or places like that?) This is also why, earlier in the story, Hikaru's mother thanked him for the _rice_ he'd sent – first I'd written there money, but I thought that maybe rice might work, as it in addition to being the main food was also the main medium of exchange... but overall, as it is, _I don't have a clue_. ^^
> 
> *sigh* Kaga and Tsutsui so weren't supposed to be in this story. Hikaru was supposed to say thank you to the monk's invitation and spend the night at the temple. Instead, he just had to start wandering around, end up in the canal... and Hikaru falling into a canal > pool > Kaga, goes my brain.
> 
> Alright. Akira returns in the next chapter.


	6. Chapter 5

A new morning, and a new day. Hikaru faced it with a considerable lack of enthusiasm. He had been woken up by Kimihiro who had told him that Tetsuo had already left to report for work, with a hangover and a rather bad temper. Kimihiro had went his way too, after agreeing to meet at this same place in the evening, and left Hikaru standing alone in front of the now quiet tavern.

Still quite drowsy, both physically and mentally exhausted, Hikaru started to drift along on the streets.

~

“I've got news,” Fujiwara no Kousuke said the moment he spotted Akira.

“Yes?” Without bothering to stop Akira walked right into the university area and the younger boy, who had been hanging around at the gate, obviously waiting for him, half sprang after him.

“Or maybe I should say I have no news, which in itself is news.”

“You speak in riddles,” Akira stated, annoyed, but trying to hide it. 

The other gave him a dry smile. “I tried to find out who this brilliant go player of yours is.” He paused for a moment. “I found... nothing. As far as I can tell, no such person as 'Fujiwara no Hikaru' exists.”

“Perhaps your research wasn't thorough enough,” Akira said dismissively.

“I doubt it. Trust me, he is some kind of a fake.” The boy sniffed, with offended air. “He claimed to be of the northern branch. The main branch. There are very good records of our genealogy, and I can tell you that...”

“And I can tell you that you are mistaken.” Akira stopped and shot him a glare. “He is...” He fell silent, staring toward the gate. As Kousuke turned to look, it took him moment to understand what he was watching. A sneer flashed on his face when he did.

~

Although he hadn't planned to go to the palace, Hikaru found that it was exactly where his feet had carried him. He stood a while at the main gate, but unable to find the determination with which he had walked in the previous day, he turned away, head hanging. But as he started to wander away his eyes stopped on another gate, that of the university. 

He stood in the middle of the wide avenue, and then, hesitantly, begun to walk toward the gate. _You can find me at the university_ , he remembered the words of that guy he had played with. It had been a good game. More than good – he didn't think he had ever had so much fun playing against anyone. Perhaps not even Sai, he thought, and immediately felt guilty.

He walked closer to the gate, wondering if he should just leave. This was hardly a time to be thinking about playing random games just for fun. But as he stopped by the gate, he realized he had already been spotted. He thought of leaving, pretending he hadn't noticed the boy who was now walking toward him – followed by Fujiwara no Kousuke, he unhappily realized – but in the end he remained where he was, hovering by the gate.

Akira came to a stop in front of him, eying him incredulously. “ _What_... has happened to you?”

Only now Hikaru realized what he must look like. At least he had dressed up in his own clothes in the morning, but the garment was dirty and wrinkly, and still damp. Suddenly quite self-conscious, he touched his hair and realized that his bun, which he hadn't bothered to redo in the morning, was partly dangling and about to fall apart. His hat he had lost into the canal. 

He blushed. “I... I've had a rough night,” he muttered, and blushed even more as the boy behind Akira's back snorted.

“Looks like it,” Akira stated calmly. “I was going to ask if you had come for a game, but in that state...”

“I'd probably best to head home,” Hikaru agreed meekly. “And anyway, I was just passing by, so... I'll be on my way then.” He didn't move, though.

Kousuke stepped forward and opened his mouth.

“Let's walk together,” Akira cut him off, guessing what he was about to say. “I want to speak with you.”

Kousuke closed his mouth and gave him a surprised look. “Our lecture is starting soon,” he pointed out.

Akira shrugged. “You'd better hurry, then. Please tell the professors I'll be away today.”

“You'll take a day off because of someone like _him_?” The question's tone was that of utter astonishment.

Akira had already grasped Hikaru's arm and was walking away, dragging the embarrassed boy with him. “You said yourself that the quality of teaching has declined,” he just stated.

“You want me to tell _that_ to the professors, too?” Kousuke shouted after them. As he got no reply he fumed a moment by the gate before stomping back into the university area.

“Where are we going?” Hikaru muttered after they had walked a while down the Suzaku Avenue.

“I don't know. I thought you were going home.”

“Then we're going in the wrong direction.” Hikaru stopped and glanced over his shoulder. “You know... I live... over there.” He waved with his hand vaguely.

“Yes. In the western part of the city.” The look Akira gave him was unnerving. His eyes had the same sharpness they'd had during their game. “Strange place for you to live in. Though I admit, there are still some respectable families living over there.”

“Yeah,” Hikaru muttered and left it at that.

“You said you've spent some time in the Kawachi province,” Akira probed on as the other volunteered no information. “Just visiting?”

“Yeah...”

“So, has your family always lived in the western part of the city?”

“Yeah.”

They were standing still in the middle of the avenue. The look on Hikaru's face was changing from embarrassed to grumpy, and Akira decided to change tactics. A direct attack.

“Fujiwara no Kousuke had some interesting information. He had done some research, and had found out nothing about you. According to him, there is no 'Hikaru' in the Fujiwara clan.”

Hikaru said nothing, just shot him an angry glare.

Akira drew in a breath, summoning his patience. “So... are you really who you claim to be?”

“What if I aren't?” Hikaru snapped. “What's it to you, anyway, who I am?”

Akira paused, taken aback by his anger. “I'm simply curious,” he said then. “You're an exceptional go player. Of course, that doesn't change, no matter who you are, so perhaps it _is_ of no importance. But...” He gave another look at the boy's ragged appearance. “How could I not be curious?”

Hikaru sighed, anger fading away. Turned, beginning to head home. “Whatever. You're right. It doesn't matter. Nothing of this matters anymore.”

“Why?” Akira left after him.

“None of your business,” Hikaru muttered, and refused to say more.

They walked on side by side, quite a strange couple – one a respectable gentleman from head to toes, and the other like a beggar who had dressed in old clothes he'd found among garbage. Hikaru didn't appear to be any more talkative than before, less if possible, but this time Akira wasn't about to repress his curiosity.

“Are you somehow connected to Fujiwara no Sai? You did mention his name once.” As the other boy said nothing, he went on, “I hear he is a brilliant player, though I've never had a chance to play with him. Of course, the way things turned out, I probably never will.”

Hikaru gave a strange sound, somewhere between a smothered laugh and a snort. “You could bet on that.”

Akira gave him a confused look. “So... is he as good as they say?”

“Better,” Hikaru muttered. “He was better.”

It took Akira a moment to catch it. “...was?”

“He's dead.” Hikaru kept his gaze strictly on the ground as he marched onward. “And yes, as I'm sure that is what you're trying to get at, he was my teacher.”

“I'm sorry,” Akira said after a moment's silence. “I... wouldn't want to pry, but... how?”

Hikaru shook his head. “I don't feel like talking right now,” he said curtly. “I want to go home. Change into something clean – and dry.” He walked in silence, raising his grim face up to the bright blue sky. “But if you're going to take a day off anyway, you could come with me. We can talk later.”

~

“Akitada-sama... _what_ are you doing?”

The man gave a jump and shot a startled glance behind his back. “What does it look like?” he muttered with an angry frown as he saw the intruder was only his friend's nephew. “I'm getting rid of that accursed thing for good.” His tone was impatient, and his whole appearance tired and nervous – his fingers kept on twitching as he watched the go board that was by now completely in flames.

Seimei walked out of the house to the man's side and gave the burning go board a long look. “Did you talk about this with my uncle? Because,” he went on, getting no response, “this is a very rash thing to do.”

“I do not need children to tell me what to do!” Akitada snapped, and the look he gave the boy was furious and wild-eyed.

“My uncle will tell you the same,” Seimei went on calmly. “Not to mention that this won't work. You'll only make him angry.”

Akitada froze. “Him?” he squeaked. The boy nodded.

“ _Him_. He is definitely upset about you burning a go board. I would say...” the boy tilted his head, looking somewhere into empty air, “that he must have loved the game greatly.”

Akitada mumbled something under his breath, pale and sweating. The only thing Seimei could make out was “fool.”

“Do you know why he took a commoner as his student?”

“What?” Akitada's eyes widened at the question. “ _Commoner?_ ”

Seimei nodded. “That boy who helped us to find his body.”

Akitada gave a short laugh, his mouth twisting into a disgusted sneer. “Figures... certainly something _he_ would do. No sense of what's appropriate, no thought to his rank or position, just _playing_ around like a little child...”

“But still he was so fond of his position he would have cheated in a game he loves to keep it. Is that really true?”

The sneer turned into an enraged expression as the man swung around to face the boy. “How _dare_ you...”

Another figure appeared on the yard. “Akitada.” The voice was stern. “ _What_ are you doing?”

“I... I...” Akitada fluttered helplessly as Toshirou came to a stop by the burning go board. “I...”

“ _Idiot!_ ” Toshirou snapped, and Akitada flinched. “Do you want to anger a ghost?”

“I just... just...” Akitada mumbled miserably. “If he's attached to the go board, and there is no go board, so won't he...?”

“He was attached to that go board because it was _your_ go board,” Seimei put in. “In other words, he's attached to you. And I'd be very curious to find out why.”

Toshirou gave him a frown. “Do keep your curiosity in check.”

“That boy of yours is growing impertinent,” Akitada put in, giving the boy in question a dirty look. “He had the cheek to insinuate that I would have been lying.”

“Seimei.” Toshirou turned to the boy, grave. “Try to behave yourself, or I'll have to send you back home. Akitada-sama is a respectable gentleman, _and_ my friend, and I will not listen to such talk from you. You should apologize.”

“There is something strange going on here,” Seimei insisted. “You know the ghost wouldn't be here without a reason. And if Akitada-sama doesn't tell us what the reason is, how can we help him?”

“I know all the details,” Toshirou snapped. “You do not need to trouble your head with them, just do what I tell you.”

“You took me here to learn,” the boy pointed out. “How can I learn if I don't know what's going on?”

“Enough! I'll see to it that you know what you need to know. Now be quiet already!” He turned back to his friend, still puffing. “Burning the go board won't help at all, but what's done is done.” He glanced at the remains of the board, where small flames still hungrily ate what was left of the wood. “But I'll think of something, don't worry. Every ghost can be exorcised once you find the correct method.”

Akitada sighed. “I hope so. Gods, these are awful times. Nothing goes well these days.”

“Trouble at the palace?” Toshirou asked, and he nodded.

“The emperor's sickness is growing worse. There's even talk about abdicating. Horrible thought! That would mean his son Prince Hiroakira would take the throne. I could, of course, keep my place at the palace, but... I don't enjoy having to teach children. Their moods are so varying and concentration lacking... I'm truly not looking forward to it.”

Toshirou gave a laugh. “True, children can be a handful. But they can also bring much honor to their teachers. But what is wrong with the emperor? Maybe he could still be healed?”

“Would you come to take a look?” Akitada shot him a hopeful look. “I'm sure I could arrange that. Perhaps it is no natural illness... although the court onmyouji haven't been able to do anything.”

“I'd be delighted!” Toshirou exclaimed. “It would be a great honor to me if I could be of help for the emperor. And... perhaps this would be the chance we have been waiting for.”

Akitada nodded, thoughtful. “Perhaps! Let us go, then. There is no point in wasting any time.”

“What about the ghost? And the go board?” Seimei asked as the men were leaving to make themselves ready for court. “Shouldn't we do something about this first?”

Toshirou gave him a dismissing wave. “The ghost, obviously, isn't going anywhere. The emperor's illness, on the other hand, might be a much more urgent business. You do something about the go board while we are gone.” And they left, leaving behind the still smoking go board and a boy who looked after them with an unreadable expression.

~

It had been long since Akira had ventured this deep into the western part of the city. The area was hardly inviting, though he had to admit it wasn't quite as bad as he had imagined. Apparently the horrors of the western side were greatly exaggerated.

His companion walked on briskly and without any words, and he followed just as silently. There was a thousand things he would have wanted to ask, but given that little piece of information he had just learned, it would hardly have been tactful to voice them all right then. So he simply followed, trying to still his curiosity, hoping to get the answers soon. 

They were getting close to the western border when Hikaru finally turned into the yard of a house; a small one, but obviously well-tended. Akira watched with relief the little garden through which they walked – compared to some places they had passed, this one was simple, but still quite beautiful and showing a good taste.

Hikaru walked straight in, yelling, “I'm home!” Hiding his uncertainty with determination Akira stepped in after him.

“Where have you been?” came a female voice from somewhere. “You didn't say you'd be away the whole night...” 

A girl rushed into the room, but came to an abrupt stop when seeing Akira. A servant? Her dress was that of a commoner, at least – even though her manner wasn't. Akira stopped as well, embarrassed. A sister, possibly? Meeting a stranger face-to-face like this? She and Hikaru didn't quite look alike, though.

“That's Akari,” Hikaru muttered with a vague wave of his hand as he walked deeper into the house. “I'll go to change.”

The girl seemed only now to realize the state his clothing was in, and her eyes widened. “Hikaru! _What_ have you been doing? That's just... you've not been in a fight or something, have you?”

“Don't bug me now, Akari,” Hikaru just snapped and left them.

Maybe, still, a sister, Akira pondered. Or... certainly not a wife? Surely Hikaru would have mentioned that.

The girl gave him an awkward look, and he bowed, hiding his own confusion. “I'm Kamo no Akira. Pleased to meet you. I hope I'm not intruding, coming like this without any notice.”

“Oh... no.” The girl blushed bright red and gave a hasty bow in return. “Uh, welcome, I... I mean, please, come in.”

She led him into another room, still blushing, and left him sitting there, mumbling something about going to get someone. After a short while she returned together with an older woman, also, clearly, a commoner. He hoped he managed to hide his shock as the woman introduced herself as Hikaru's mother – Hikaru's, but not the girl's, as he realized a little belatedly.

They exchanged some pleasantries, the woman obviously somewhat awed about having an aristocrat in her house. The conversation was, inevitably, quite forced between two people who, although living in the same city, belonged to completely different worlds. Hikaru took his time changing his clothes, and the more time passed, the more Akira was beginning to wonder exactly what he was doing in this place. It was getting obvious that Kousuke's doubts were justified.

Nevertheless, that game remained, Akira kept on telling himself. _And_ Hikaru claimed Fujiwara no Sai as his teacher. The current situation was awkward, to say the least, but his curiosity was great enough to overcome such minor inconveniences. He attempted to find out something about Hikaru from this woman, but she clearly didn't want to speak about her son's business and avoided the questions quite firmly. 

Finally Hikaru shuffled into the room, tugging his clothes (commoner clothes, Akira noted), his hair hanging free down to his shoulders

“My old clothes are getting too small for me,” Hikaru muttered, and true enough, the sleeves were a little short.

“You've grown so much since you wore those,” his mother put in, smiling fondly. “I thought about lengthening them, but I didn't believe you'd need...” her voice trailed off when she remembered their company.

Hikaru gave him a direct look. “Let's go to my room. We can talk there in peace.” He shot a glare at the girl who, after having led his mother into the room, had fled from the place but who now was hovering in the doorway. “No eavesdropping, Akari!” he stated firmly, and the girl stuck her tongue out at him, leaving Akira again to wonder about their relationship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just to fix any mental images, if it wasn't clear yet: Hikaru does not have bleached bangs in the Heian times. Everyone's hair-do is what it was supposed to be back then. I'm not sure what kind of a hat Hikaru would have worn – perhaps a shorter kind of an eboshi hat. I tried to find out, but somehow there is a considerable lack of internet sites about the headgear Heian period commoners who're being adopted to nobility would wear. But anyway, no gentleman would go bareheaded.
> 
> And... Akira wondering whether Akari is Hikaru's wife made me realize that most of these people would have been married. Sai, most likely, possibly Akira too... and Akitada definitely had to have a wife – more than one, really, as having only one wife would have been seen as quite peculiar, selfish behavior. All these wives will promptly be ignored here. Anyway, it's not like they'd be able to do much else than sit behind their screens. If it was possible for a stepfather never to see his stepdaughter, or a brother never to see his sister, we probably won't get a chance to see these wives either. Right? ^^;


	7. Chapter 6 aka The Chapter in Which Hikaru Talks. (And talks. And talks.)

Hikaru's room was the pinnacle of asceticism. There was a rolled up bed in one corner and a go board in another, and that was all. The latter demanded Akira's interest. It was a very old board, quite simple, and he noticed that one of its sides was a little cracked.

“I found that go board when I was a kid,” Hikaru said, following his gaze. “Someone had thrown it away. I dragged it home and everyone laughed about it, except my father who got angry and told me not to waste my time with stuff like that... Playing silly games won't feed anyone, he said, and told me to throw it away. Which is probably why I decided to learn how to play.”

Akira sat down on the floor, quietly. Hikaru seemed to be ready to talk, and he wasn't about to say something that would change this.

“Of course, I didn't have a clue about how it's played,” Hikaru went on. “I didn't have stones, either, but I picked some from the streets to play with. And always when I saw people playing I tried to spy on them to see how it's done. One day I met this old man, a merchant, who, I guess, was a bit amused about my interest and taught me the basics... but he died before we could get far into the game. I taught Akari – in secret, of course – so that I'd have someone to play with. We did play pretty horrible go those days, I'm afraid.”

Hikaru sighed and placed his hand on the go board. “I don't know why I'm telling you this,” he muttered. “This isn't at all what I was going to talk about.”

“It is quite interesting, though. Please... do go on.”

Hikaru was silent for a long moment before he did continue. “Then, one day about four years ago... I happened to pass two young noblemen and heard them arguing about some move in a game they'd played. One of them was defending his move, and the other claiming that it wasn't the best move in that situation, but they couldn't quite agree what would have been best. I started following them, as it sounded interesting, and they were so absorbed in their argument they didn't notice me at all. And then I started thinking about it, too, and I just somehow blurted out how I would play. You should have seen their faces when they looked behind and saw who was talking.” He grinned. “One of them turned bright red and told me to go back to my gutter, but... the other was laughing and said that it wasn't a bad move. I almost did run away, but... I don't know. He seemed... friendly, somehow. Different from any other of the 'good people' I'd met.

“And then he asked me if I wanted to play with him. That was something I definitely hadn't been expecting. And neither had his friend. We both just stood gaping there, and he said we could probably use the board at the university, as it was close by, and then he took me there, and his friend most likely would have objected but he was still so shocked that he couldn't get anything sensible out. I was excited, though; it'd be my first real game. I wanted to play real well so that they'd both be impressed, but... then I found out just how bad I really was. I mean... I barely knew the rules. But... I don't know... somehow he was still impressed. I don't know what he saw in that awful go I played.”

He fell silent again, leaning against the wall and gazing thoughtfully up at the ceiling. "I don't know," he muttered again. "But he said he'd play with me again. That he'd teach me. And he did. I couldn't meet him often, though... I had to work, and to keep it all a secret from my father, too. But whenever I had a chance, I was playing go. And I did get better. And then came the time when he graduated from the university. His father had just recently been appointed as the governor of Kawachi – you know, he'd had a post somewhere in the eastern provinces – and now that he moved so much closer, it was easier for Sai to visit. And he said he was going to spend some time there with his father, and I was really sad about it.

"So I..." He looked a little sheepish. "I went after him, on my own. I didn't tell my parents anything. I didn't know how father would react, and I was afraid he'd stop me. I just told Akari, and made her promise not to tell them anything before I had a good head start. I hope they weren't too mad at her... Anyway, Sai took me to his home, and I met his father, and at first I thought he was really scary and I wondered just what he thought about Sai dragging someone like me home with him, but... then Sai had me play some go with him, and suddenly everything was fine. I don't know, they're a weird family. As long as you play go, they don't really care about anything else. It's... weird."

Akira took a moment to digest all this. “Why did you introduce yourself as Fujiwara?” he finally asked.

“They're going to adopt me. Sai's father is, to be exact. I was really surprised when he suggested it... I hadn't even imagined something like that would be possible. We were planning to make it official some time when we'd visit Sai in the capital... I don't know if all that's happened changes things, though. And I don't care, really. Oh!” Hikaru looked up, eyes widening. “I should send him a message! I almost forgot!”

“Who?”

“Sai's father,” Hikaru said. “I got to tell him Sai's dead. And where we buried him.”

“You buried him? Without even telling his father he is dead?”

“Yeah, well...” Hikaru ran his fingers through his hair, looking troubled. “I guess it wouldn't have hurt to wait a bit longer and send a message first. But he'd already been so long in the river, and it was kind of awful and they were so insistent, and I... I just didn't... they got a monk and everything, and... oh, I got to remember to pay that monk...”

Akira blinked, trying to make heads and tails out of it. “Who were so insistent?”

“That Sugawara guy,” Hikaru almost spat the name out. “And some onmyouji friend of his.”

“Onmyouji?” Akira's eyes widened. “What has been going on here?”

“I'm not totally sure, myself. That's partly why I came here, to find out what happened. But nothing of it makes any sense.”

Akira frowned. “Why don't you go on with your story. I remember when Fujiwara no Sai was appointed as the emperor's go teacher. He had been making himself a name as a go player already during his time at the university. His promotion did cause some commotion, though – he did spend a long time in his childhood with his father in the eastern provinces, didn't he? But those who truly know the game agreed that his skills were close to phenomenal.”

“I remember when Sai got that position, too.” Hikaru's voice was choking, and he cleared his throat. “He was so excited about it. Not the position itself, you know, but the chance to get to play against all the best opponents. He could barely conceal it... His father in fact prefers to live in the provinces, but Sai... the capital had so much to offer for him, and he never wanted to stay away for long.”

He swallowed. “I guess his father was afraid that something like this might happen. 'If you swim with sharks, you should have sharper teeth yourself.' He said that once, when Sai was again leaving to the capital.”

“What about you? Didn't you go with him?”

Hikaru gave a laugh. “Come now, Sai was going to teach the emperor. How could I have followed him? He had enough trouble with people whispering about his provincial background without someone like me tagging along. I was going to return to the capital some day once he'd be firmly established and then I, too, would be properly adopted and so on. But...” he swallowed again, as if trying to get something down his throat. “Then we got the message. And we waited. And waited. But he didn't come home. I grew impatient and decided to go to search for him.”

“And you found him.”

“Yeah. That onmyouji prepared some spell that helped me to... locate... Sai's body. I don't know why they wanted to find him, as they obviously didn't care about him at all, though.”

“Did you say... he was in a river? How did he die?”

“I guess he drah...” The lump was back in Hikaru's throat and it took him a moment to be able to continue. “Drowned himself,” he finally whispered.

“It's a sad story,” Akira said after a moment's silence. “And so... unnecessary. If he just had been able to face a loss, maybe things would have worked out in the end. He was still young, so...”

“What are you talking about?” Hikaru looked up at him, suddenly enraged. “ _You_ think he cheated, too?”

“That's... what they say,” Akira said, surprised.

“No!” Hikaru slammed his hand against the floor. “Sai would never cheat in a game of go! Never! He'd never _ever_ stain the game like that!”

Akira stared at him dumbfounded. “But,” he tried, but Hikaru didn't listen.

“He loved go, more than anything else – it was his whole life.” He fell silent, fuming. “This whole story _stinks_ ,” he spat out, then. “Those two, so intent to find him and get him buried right away... they're lying about something. About everything. I know it. I just... have to find out how to prove it.”

Their gazes locked, and Akira was a little taken aback by the resolution in the other boy's eyes. He looked down, thinking, and then raised his eyes up again.

“Would you play a game?”

Hikaru blinked. “Are you always like that?” he asked. “Wanting to play at the strangest times?”

A small smile tugged Akira's lips. “Perhaps. But... I'd be honored if you played with me.”

Hikaru looked at his go board hesitantly. “It's not a very good board. And the stones... part of them are some old go stones I found, but most are just normal stones I picked from streets.”

“It's alright. A fancy board isn't needed for a good game.”

Hikaru said nothing. He looked still strangely reluctant, but got up and moved the board to the middle of the floor. They started the game in silence, Hikaru playing white this time. Once again, the game started almost conventionally, with both of them following old, familiar joseki, but despite this, Akira felt the same sudden pang of excitement he had felt during their previous game.

He would be careful, this round. Last time he might have lost because he underestimated his opponent. He wouldn't make the same mistake now. No matter how harmless and ordinary the moves would seem, he would place careful consideration on all of them. And so he would be able to determine the true skill of his opponent. He looked up, and for a moment they faced each other. He could see the same determination in the other boy's eyes, a mirror image of his own, and smiled inwardly. 

The game was a long one, and quiet. As he placed stone after a stone on the board, Hikaru attempted to suppress the excitement he felt. A full day hadn't passed since he had buried Sai, and there he was, having fun playing go. It couldn't be right.

But he couldn't help it; the evolving patterns of the game touched something inside him, stirred something strange and wonderful within his heart, and as he looked at the moves he made, and the moves his opponent made, he found himself thinking of his countless games with Sai. He remembered similar situations and responses to them, a myriad of bits and pieces of different games, and the last game he had played with Sai. If... if he had known it would be the last, he would have played better.

Something burned sharply behind his eyes, and he pressed them close, willing the tears back.

Why hadn't he, despite everything, followed Sai to the capital? He could have stayed out of sight, lived in his old home... but at least he would have been there when Sai needed him. He wouldn't have let things proceed the way they had. But instead he had been away in the provinces, enjoying easy life as a governor's guest.

He realized Akira had made his move long ago, and he wasn't even looking at the board. He opened his eyes and made a hasty move, a bad one, he realized the moment the stone left his hand. Akira looked at the board, then at him, and his expression was unreadable.

“If you don't feel like playing, we can stop now.”

Hikaru shook his head angrily. “I can play.”

“It doesn't look like that.” Akira lowered his gaze back to the board. “With moves like that...”

“One bad move doesn't ruin the game!”

Akira raised his eyebrows at him. “One bad move? If it were only one. But if you insist...”

“What do you mean, 'if it were only one'?! I can still beat you!”

“Do dream on,” Akira snorted and made his move. 

Hikaru slammed the next stone on the board, bristling. “The game's far from finished, so don't act like you had won already!”

“If you really think you're winning this one, maybe I was _over_ estimating you! But sure, be stubborn if you want to!” Another stone snapped on the board. “It's not going to get you far.”

“We'll see about that!”

For the next few minutes the stones kept on slamming on the board with angry snaps, as the speed of the game quickened. Toward the end the pace calmed down again, though, and once the game was over they sat long in silence staring at the board.

“Crappy game,” Hikaru muttered then. He had lost by eight moku.

“Not so,” Akira stated thoughtfully. “You had a bad beginning, but that was quite a fight you put up in the end. You almost had me here,” he pointed at a big cluster of black stones he had just barely been able to save.

“Yeah... if I'd got those stones it'd have been totally different. Whatever.” Hikaru started picking up the stones.

“What are you going to do now?”

“I don't know,” Hikaru sighed. “I need to find out what really happened, but I don't know how. Maybe I should find someone who saw that game, but...” He looked hopefully at his opponent. “Do you know anyone who saw it?”

Akira thought about it a moment. “I don't know, maybe. I can ask around.”

“Could you start right away? Please?”

Akira shifted uncomfortably under the other's pleading look. “I guess. I don't have anything else to do, now that I didn't go to the university.”

“Great!” Hikaru jumped on his feet and put the go board away. “Let's go then!”

“You're coming too?” Akira asked as he stood up.

“Of course! It's not like I had anything else to do, either. Mom!” he yelled, leaving the room. “We're going out again. I don't know when I'll be back.”

His mother appeared in a doorway, looking vaguely worried. “You won't eat here, then?” Her eyes wandered between her son and their visitor. “Is... something wrong?” she asked uncertainly, and Hikaru froze for a short moment.

“No. Or... let's talk about that later.” Avoiding his mother's eyes he began to head for the main door.

“I'm cleaning your clothes,” she said, hovering behind him. “But it's going to take a long while. Is it alright for you to go in those clothes?”

“Yeah, it's fine... I'm not going to wear anything wet again. See you!” He shot a quick smile at his mother. Akira gave her a half-bow, not quite certain how to deal with a commoner woman who was the mother of someone who just might be his equal in go.

“So!” When they left the house Hikaru turned eagerly to him, walking a moment backwards. “Where will we start?”

Akira had been thinking about this a while. “I think I'll go to meet an old friend of my father's,” he said. “He is senior fourth rank, and loves go, and I think it's quite possible he would have been present during the game.”

Hikaru nodded, and they walked on in silence, both deep in thoughts. Akira tried to put all the bits and pieces together, and he had to admit that there was something strange in it. He didn't personally know Sugawara no Akitada, nor had he heard much about him. But this man had been searching for the body of his fallen adversary, with the help of an onmyouji, too?

“Who was that onmyouji you mentioned?” he asked.

Hikaru blinked. “I... don't remember,” he confessed. “I think his clan might have been... Abe? Or something short like that.”

Akira frowned. His own family had some prominent onmyouji, including his father and brother, and so he too was perhaps more familiar with the art than most people, but he couldn't remember ever meeting someone from Abe. Which meant nothing, of course – he hardly knew all the onmyouji there were.

They had reached one of the canals running through the city. As they crossed it, he watched the autumn leaves floating in the water, and couldn't help thinking about the fate of Fujiwara no Sai. He stopped and stared down into the water, trying to find words for the feeling inside his chest.  
“So we drift from life,” he muttered, “like a leaf in the river torn from its home tree... once so deep green, full of life, it turns to mud and is gone.” 

Not his best poem, but not quite bad, either. Eyes closed, he reflected on the evanescence of life, until an impatient “Are you coming soon?” cut off his thoughts.

Annoyed, he glanced at his companion, who was watching him arms crossed and with a frown on his brow. “Come on!” Hikaru went on. “What are you doing there, muttering to yourself?”

He sighed. “I was composing poetry for this...”

“Poetry?” Hikaru exclaimed incredulously. “What do you mean, _poetry_? We don't have time for such nonsense!”

Akira shot him a glare. “It is no nonsense! Though I guess it's too much to expect a person of your quality to understand the...”

“My quality, huh? Spoken like a true 'good person'!”

A moment they glared at each other before Akira walked on with an angry swipe of his sleeves, muttering something about 'insensitive louts'. They continued their way side by side, but now the silence had turned quite icy.

It didn't take long before they stopped by a grand mansion. “I don't know if he is home,” Akira said, somewhat calmed down. “It isn't quite good manners to come to a sudden visit like this, but then again, he has always been of a social disposition, so perhaps he won't mind. You can wait in the servants' quarters.”

“Huh? Wait?”

Akira sighed at Hikaru's surprised expression, and gave him a long look. “Did you really imagine I would invite you into the house of senior third rank, especially the way you're currently dressed?”

Hikaru looked down at his simple dress and too short sleeves and grimaced. “I... guess you're right,” he admitted, and reluctantly stayed behind as Akira entered the mansion.

Watanabe no Tadatsuna not only was home, but delighted to see him, or so he at least claimed. Akira was led into his charming garden, to sit by a small artificial lake and admire the last delicate flowers that helped by the warm weather hadn't yet succumbed to the cooling nights. Tadatsuna offered him a cup of cold drink, sweetened with liana syrup, and sat down next to him with a broad smile.

Akira hadn't seen his father's old friend for a while, and now, sipping his drink he thought of what he knew about the man. An elderly courtier, who loved go and – he remembered this suddenly, tasting his sweet drink – had a sweet tooth. Not much to go on, but then again, he didn't know his father's friends too well. Given their distant relationship, the man's cordiality was a little strange – but then he remembered what he had just, himself, said to Hikaru about the man's 'social disposition'. Perhaps he simply was happy for the company.

This premonition was confirmed as the man shot into a long speech about his country estates, the renovations in the garden, the happenings (or the lack of them) at court, and, in general, anything that seemed to cross his mind, leaving Akira very little to say. Time passed, and he was beginning to fear that Hikaru might lose his patience waiting for him. Then, Tadatsuna remembered his guest's interest in go. “It has been so long since I have played a good game!” he exclaimed, clapping his hands together. “Certainly you would...”

“Speaking about go,” Akira put in hurriedly, before servants would carry out a go board and his visit would grow even longer, “did you happen to know Fujiwara no Sai?”

The old man paused at the sudden question and gave him a curious look before raising his cup to his lips. “Yes... somehow. Why?”

“Oh, it's just...” Akira fingered his cup, wondering how to proceed. “What was he like?”

“What was he like?” Tadatsuna looked up at the sky, leaning his chin on his hand in a thoughtful pose. “A charming young man. Always very polite and well-behaved. Outstanding go player – the best I could do against him was losing by three moku, and I'm not a bad player!” He took another sip and shook his head sadly. “That was such a shocking day, truly. Why are you asking?”

Akira could hardly ignore the question twice, and he bowed his head a little. “I have just found out that he is dead,” he said, and the man froze, staring at him in horror.

“Dead? But... are you certain?”

Akira nodded, only now coming to think that he had only Hikaru's – a complete stranger's – word about this. “Yes. I heard from someone who was close to him.”

“Sad news, truly! I was hoping things would work out for him.”

“Were you present during that game?” Akira asked, and the man nodded without having to ask which game he meant.

“Yes. It was great go, from both of them, but in the end, experience won. And...” he hesitated, shaking his head softly. “I wouldn't have thought him to do something like that.”

“Do you mean the cheating? Exactly how did it happen? Did _you_ see it?”

“Me? No...” Tadatsuna looked into the distance. “I was watching the board... there was a really complex battle going on, and it took all my attention. But then Sugawara no Akitada suddenly sprang up, yelling that he had seen his opponent take a black stone from his bowl and put it among his prisoners, as a stone he had won.”

“And?” Akira leaned forward, full of attention. “What did Fujiwara no Sai say?”

“Oh, he stammered something like... 'But that's what _you_ just did!' But the emperor told them to be quiet, he said that he refused to believe either of them would have done such a deed in his presence.”

Akira sipped his drink, thinking about this closely. “So... did anyone actually _see_ it happen?” he asked, and as the man shook his head, he went on, “Why is it then said as a fact that Fujiwara no Sai did cheat?”

“Well...” Tadatsuna tapped his chin thoughtfully. “I am not certain. He did lose – I guess people thought that seeing that he was losing he, still so young and in many ways inexperienced, panicked, and – everyone agrees that it was simply by a chance there was one black stone in his bowl – couldn't resist it... _mono wa hazumi_ ,” he concluded with a shrug. An impulse.

“But there was no examination? Certainly it would have been easy to see whether there were any extra stones? And if the emperor said he didn't believe either of them do something like that, why was he banished?”

“Banished is maybe a little strong,” Tadatsuna muttered. “That game was played for the position of emperor's go teacher, and having lost, Fujiwara no Sai had no place in the court. And with all the whispering, people wondering if he truly had cheated, it was under those circumstances best for him to leave the capital.”

“What do you think, then?” Akira fixed his gaze at the old man. “You knew them both. _If_ someone cheated, who do you think it would have been?”

“Oh...” Tadatsuna looked away. “I don't like to speak ill of people.”

“But certainly you have an opinion on this,” Akira persisted. “Earlier, you said you wouldn't have believed Fujiwara no Sai to do something like that. What about Sugawara no Akitada?”

The old man still refused to look at him. “Such a pleasant young man,” he muttered. “And Akitada-sama... well. He is a respectable man. Fine player. He was born into the lower ranks, too, and it took him long to reach this high. But he did, through work and perseverance. A fine man.”

“How did he react when the emperor appointed another teacher? Someone so young, getting such a high place so easily. He must have been, at least a little, put out with it.”

“Possibly, possibly,” Tadatsuna muttered. “But your cup is empty. I'll send for more...”

“No, thank you. I think I should be leaving soon. I have... a meeting.” Akira could see that despite the man's talkativeness he wouldn't get more information here. He took his leave, and couldn't help noticing that the man seemed to be somewhat relieved that he left.

As he entered the yard he was wondering where to find Hikaru, but this proved to be easy. Sudden loud shouting led him to the servants' wing. And sure enough, there his strange companion was currently engaged in a yelling match with an older man, apparently a retainer of Tadatsuna's house. Based on the simple go board and the scattered stones on the floor, the yelling match had been preceded by a go match.

“You!” Hikaru shouted, and pointed a finger at him as he entered the room. “Tell this fool I really can play!”

“He can play,” Akira stated calmly. “It's manners where he still has much to learn.”

Hikaru, who had turned triumphantly toward the man, shot him an angry look.

“What is going on here?” he asked, ignoring it, and looked questioningly at Hikaru's opponent.

“I'm sorry, lord,” the man said, bowing. “We were playing a game, and...”

“And I won!” Hikaru exclaimed. “But he claimed I had to have cheated to win!”

“How could someone like him play like that...” the man muttered, giving him a half embarrassed, half infuriated look.

“He is a good player,” Akira repeated. “But we should be going now.” He gave Hikaru a look. “If you're quite done here.”

“Sure!” With one final, victorious look at the man, Hikaru followed him into the yard. “What did you find out?”

“Not much,” Akira confessed. “Though I do agree with you, this is a curious case. For one thing, even though everyone speaks of it as an established fact, there doesn't seem to be any prove of Fujiwara no Sai really cheating.”

“I knew it!” Hikaru exclaimed. “Of course there can't be any prove of something that didn't happen!”

 _It is, though, possible that his opponent did cheat_ , Akira thought to himself, but didn't yet say this aloud. “That message,” he said instead.

“Huh? What message?”

“The one you haven't yet sent to his father.”

“Oh, yes. I... keep on forgetting it.” The look he gave Akira was, perhaps, a little embarrassed. 

Akira stopped. “I'm sure they would borrow writing tools for you,” he said, glancing behind. The retainer Hikaru had played with was still standing in the yard, looking after them. “Well, for me, at least. We don't have to tell them it's you who needs them. And you really should get this done as soon as possible.”

Now there was no mistaking it; Hikaru was definitely embarrassed, looking away with a small blush. “Yeah. Well, it's just that...”

Suddenly realizing the problem Akira rolled his eyes. “You can't write, huh?”

“I've been practicing!” The blush on Hikaru's cheeks deepened. “And I _can_ write a bit. It's just... not easy.”

“Whatever you say. Excuse me,” he called after the retainer. “I just remembered a message I should send. Do you have some writing tools I could use?”

A moment later he was sitting down with a brush in his hand. “What do you want to say?”

“Well, I...” Hikaru sat down by him, fidgeting nervously. “I'm not sure. How should I tell him this?”

Akira thought about it a moment, and sighed. “Very well, I'll do it for you. The point is, if I have understood correctly, to inform him of his son's suicide, and also of the fact that the said son has been buried... where?”

“By the Kamo river, not very far from Rashomon.”

“A delicate matter...” Akira muttered and started writing something. Hikaru watched with fascination how beautiful signs he didn't understand one after another appeared on the paper, with such apparent ease. 

“Do you want me to read it for you?” Akira asked when he was finished.

Hikaru shook his head. “I'm sure it's fine. Umm... how should we send it?”

Akira gave him a long look. “You were planning to send a message without being able to write _and_ not knowing how to send it?”

“I know mother somehow sent me messages with the help of the Fujiwara clan here in the city,” Hikaru said a bit curtly. “But they obviously were pretty careless with them, as I didn't get all of them.”

“I'm sure they would treat a message like this more carefully,” Akira said, “but fine. I'll see to it.” He put the message into his sleeve. “Now... it's surprisingly late,” he said, looking at the sun. “I think it's almost the hour of the Monkey.”

Hikaru gave him a questioning look. “Yeah?”

“A time for some... refreshments.”

“Oh, yes!” Hikaru's face brightened. “You're right. You know, I haven't really eaten anything today. Now that you mentioned it, I'm _starving_. I could eat a horse.”

Akira looked at him, shaking his head a little. “Say,” he said as they began their way to find a place where to eat, “Fujiwara no Sai taught you go, but didn't he teach you anything else?”

“Huh? Yeah, sure. Like writing and... stuff.”

“Did you actually _learn_ anything else?”

“What's that supposed to mean?” Hikaru asked with a frown, but Akira said nothing. It was only when they sat down with their rice and seaweed that he got his answer.

“Food,” Akira said quietly, watching disapprovingly the way he devoured his food, “should not be wolfed down like that. And in general, it is not proper to talk about it in so... vulgar terms. Or much at all, really.”

Hikaru's jaws paused for a moment as he looked up at him. Then he swallowed. “Hey, if I'm hungry, then I'm hungry. We don't have to talk about it, if it bothers you. But I eat like I want to.” 

“Obviously,” Akira said with a sigh. He munched quietly a little bit more of his rice and attempted to ignore his dinner partner.

“Didn't you find out anything else?” Hikaru asked between bites. “You spent an awful lot of time there.”

Akira shook his head, not so much in denial as in deep thought. “I mainly found out that I need to look more closely into this matter. I think I might visit the palace.”

“I guess I can't come with you there, either,” Hikaru stated, poking his food with his chopsticks. “This sucks – maybe I should have worn those wet clothes anyway.”

“That wouldn't have been quite proper for the palace either,” Akira pointed out. “Let's meet somewhere in the evening.”

“I'm meeting two friends of mine at a tavern called _The Peacock_. It's... eh, I don't know the exact address, but it's in the eastern capital, on the Sixth Street. I think.”

“You think? Well, I'll see if I can find the place. Otherwise we can meet tomorrow at the university – but in the afternoon. I should attend my morning lectures tomorrow.”

And after finishing their meal they went both their own ways.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Akira's poetry: if you know anything about the Heian period, you probably know about the importance of poems. Can't be stressed enough. You fail in life if you can't compose poetry.
> 
> Mono wa hazumi: sorry about the random Japanese. I wanted to have the Japanese equivalent for “opportunity makes the thief” here, but I couldn't figure out how to translate the Japanese saying so that it'd sound fluent. Mono means thing, and hazumi is spur of the moment, impulse. Things are... impulsive?
> 
> And Hikaru doesn't quite know how to send messages to the provinces because I don't know how. Akira will take care of it, I don't have to trouble my head with something like that.
> 
> The hour of the Monkey: around 4 pm. Which was about the time for a meal, according to my Book. And yeah, food was considered quite a vulgar subject.
> 
> ...poor Hikaru. There was no ramen in those days.
> 
> Btw... the spell check of Open Office wants to change Watanabe no Tadatsuna to Wannabe Tsunami. And Sugawara no Akitada would be Sugarcane Citadel. I like MS Word better, but open office certainly has a more creative spell check. ^^


	8. Chapter 7

Akira really was planning to go to the imperial palace just as he'd said, but first there was another place he wanted to visit. As soon as Hikaru was out of sight, he turned toward Sugawara no Akitada's mansion. The best way, he reasoned, to judge a man's character was to do it by himself. But once he arrived at the mansion, the servants told him that their master had left to the palace, and it was uncertain when he would return – or if he would, in fact, stay there the night. Akira was a little disappointed, as he would have wanted to have a word with the man alone, and at the palace this would be difficult. Then he came to think of something else.

“I have heard an onmyouji is visiting him. Is he still here?”

“Abe no Toshirou-dono went to the palace with our master,” the servants replied. “His nephew is still here, though.”

Abe it was, then. “Would it be possible for me to meet him? I have not met an onmyouji from this clan before, and I would be interested to make their acquaintance.”

Kamo clan was well known for its onmyouji, and so the servants found nothing odd in this request. They took Akira to the mansion's garden. There, he saw a young boy kneeling on the ground in one corner, as if examining something closely, and he stopped, confused. The servants, however, pointed at the boy, and he bit his lip. He hadn't been expecting a child.

Deciding nevertheless to proceed – and he could have hardly backed away now without offering an insult – he approached the child, only to stop soon again, in even greater surprise. The servants were about to call the boy, but he raised his hand to stop them and sent them quietly away. If his hearing didn't betray him, the boy was muttering some kind of an incantation. A quick look around proved to Akira that this spot at the edge of the garden was hardly randomly chosen. The little mound built in the garden was north-east from it, a protection from evil influences from the unlucky direction, and the location of the lake and the small brook leading to it made this truly an auspicious spot.

Akira stood still, not knowing what to think about this odd display. It took a little while, but finally the boy finished what he had been doing and stood up. 

“Could I ask...” Akira started, eying the ground curiously, as the boy turned to face him. It looked like the boy had buried something.

“Preferably not.” 

Taken a little aback by the curt reply, Akira bowed. “My apologies. I'm Kamo no Akira.”

“Abe no Seimei.”

“I...” Akira cleared his throat, surprised to find himself at a loss. “I hear your uncle is an onmyouji,” he finally said. “And apparently so are you.”

The boy continued to watch him with an expressionless face, saying nothing, and he stifled a pang of annoyance. “I don't believe I'm familiar with your uncle. Is he strong?” The question, placed so blatantly, bordered on rude, but the boy's aloof manner didn't tempt him to waste his time on pleasantries.

“He is my teacher.”

“I see.” The reply didn't tell him much – and at the same time, a lot. If this was all the boy had to say, it didn't speak well about the man's skills. The double bind of kinship and apprenticeship would stop him from saying bad things about his teacher, but he didn't have to lie either. That was, Akira reminded himself with a frown, assuming this strange boy behaved like a normal person.

“Do you know when they will return from the palace? I was hoping to have a word with Sugawara no Akitada.”

The boy shrugged. “They will probably still take some time. They are both too stubborn to give up easily.”

Akira raised his eyebrows, wondering what the boy was talking about. “I see. Then I guess I'll go to the palace and see if I can find them.” He turned to leave, but suddenly the hair on his neck bristled, and he spun around. “What was that?”

“What?” For the first time there was some emotion on the boy's face; mild curiosity.

“I... I felt something.” Akira's eyes darted around the garden and stopped on the little spot where something had been buried. He narrowed his eyes. “What is going on in this mansion?”

Now, the boy actually smiled. “Strange things. Say... do you know how to speak with a ghost?”

“Speak... _ghost_?” Akira stared at the boy with wide eyes. “What?”

“It is annoyingly complicated,” the boy went on, his aloofness suddenly disappearing into thin air. “I have been trying to figure this out, but in vain. It would hardly do any good to ask my uncle – even if he knew, he wouldn't tell me. I'd imagine it depends a little on the type of the ghost, too.”

Akira stared at him, trying to understand where this weird conversation suddenly was heading to. “Most likely,” he said, deciding to humor the boy. “Ghosts, in general, don't really belong to this world, and so communication with them is hard. Most of them don't even want to communicate; they have other, rather single-minded goals to achieve.”

“Yes,” the boy muttered. “But how to figure out the goal, if they don't speak?

“Why would you want to find out the goal of a ghost?” Akira asked, beginning to get genuinely curious.

“Why not? If the ghost, by chance, is in the right.”

Akira paused to consider this. “I have never really thought about it like that,” he admitted. “If a ghost appears, it is the onmyouji's job to exorcise it. But... usually, ghosts don't appear unless they have been somehow wronged. So perhaps the correct approach isn't – at least on all cases – just to get rid of the ghost as soon as possible.” He smiled a little, and tried to remind himself of why he was there. “But interesting as this is, theoretically, I have other things on my mind right now. Although...” He looked at that spot on the ground behind the boy, and frowned.

Strange goings-on at Sugawara no Akitada's mansion? At a time when the said gentleman had been adventuring around in the middle of the night, fishing the corpse of his dead rival from a river... A coincidence? He didn't quite believe in those. 

He looked sharply at the boy. “Could you tell me...” he started, but commotion at the front gate cut him off.

“It seems I was wrong,” the boy stated. “My uncle and the master of the house are back.”

Neither Sugawara no Akitada nor his friend seemed to be in the best of moods coming home. As Akira and the boy entered the house, the angry voices grew louder, approaching them. Two men appeared in a doorway, arguing heatedly about something, but seeing them, they came to an abrupt stop. One of them shot an angry glare at the servants swarming behind them.

“Why didn't you tell me I have a visitor?” he snapped.

The servants bowed deep. “We _tried_ , master...”

Akira bowed as well. “I'm sorry if I have intruded on you at a bad time. Kamo no Akira, at your service.”

“Kamo?” The man looked at him with interest. “You wouldn't happen to be an onmyouji?”

“No... no, sir, not me,” Akira said, straightening his back. “My father, Kamo no Tadayuki, is skilled in that area, and so is my younger brother, but the talent seems to have passed me.”

“Kamo no Tadayuki...” the man muttered, something glistening in his eyes. “There's a name even I know. I wonder if he would be able...”

“Would you really want to get an outsider involved?” the other man asked sharply.

Sugawara no Akitada – at least so Akira had concluded, noting that neither of the men had bothered to introduce themselves – gave his companion an angry look. “You have spent here two whole days, and what have you accomplished?”

“These things take their time! Impatience won't get you anywhere.”

A moment the men glared at each other. Akira bowed again, reminding them of his presence. “It is perhaps best if I return at some other time,” he said. “It would seem you are otherwise preoccupied right now.”

“Oh no...” Sugawara no Akitada started, but the onmyouji cut him off.

“Yes, perhaps that is wisest. There are things we should talk about, now.” He gave his friend a meaningful look. “Besides,” he turned to the boy, “Did you deal with... it?”

“Yes,” was all the boy said, his face again quite impassive.

Akira decided to probe a little more before taking his leave. “If there is a message you would wish to send to my father, I'd be happy to carry it,” he said. “It seems to me that you are having some trouble with... otherworldly things.”

It was something of a guess, but seemed to hit home. The man paled a little, and shot a nervous glance at his onmyouji friend. “Well, yes, that is...”

“We should _talk_ about these things, Akitada-sama,” the man said, now more calmly. “Let's not do – _again_ – anything rash.”

Akitada seemed still hesitant, but in the end nodded. Seeing the time for him to leave getting closer and closer, Akira decided to make one more shot in the dark.

“Strange things certainly are happening,” he stated. “I wonder just how much everything has to do with Fujiwara no Sai...”

“F-fuh-fuji...” Akitada choked. His face turned an interesting shade of yellow. “You... you have heard that rumor too? Is it true?”

“Well, it's possible...” Akira said without any idea of what rumor he was talking about.

“Of course it isn't,” Abe no Toshirou cut him off. “But if you would excuse us, my friend isn't feeling well.” Akitada truly looked like he was ready to faint.

Akira took his leave, a little disappointed. He had found more questions here than answers. But still, he reflected as he headed toward the palace, that meant he had found _something_.

~

Unable to figure out what to do, Hikaru had decided to go to meet the monk and take care of their business. He didn't have a clue what one should give a monk for funeral services, but he hoped it wouldn't be anything excessive. He came to the eastern temple, where he remembered the monk had headed, and walked in.

“Excuse me,” he said to a young monk he noticed. “I'm looking for...” Who? He suddenly realized he didn't even know the monk's name. “A... monk, who... well, he's middle-aged, and a bit thin, and...” He ran his fingers through his hair. “Wise?”

He looked hopefully at the monk who gave him a blank look. “I would hope for the latter to be true for all monks.”

“Well, yeah... he came here last night, pretty late, from performing funeral rites, uh, out there.” He waved vaguely toward the Rashomon, and the young monk stared at him in confusion.

“I am quite certain that none of our monks have been out during the night,” he stated, and Hikaru wavered.

“But...” he glanced over his shoulder wondering if the man had after all gone to the western temple. “I'm sure he came here, and... I should pay him...”

For the first time, interest flashed in the monk's face. “If you have an offering for the temple, I can certainly...”

“You can certainly pocket everything you can get, yes, I'm sure of that,” another voice put in.

Turning to look, Hikaru saw the monk standing in the temple's doorway. “There you are!” he exclaimed happily.

The other monk's face fell. “Oh, _you_ ,” he muttered. “What are you doing here?”

“Just visiting. But come, boy.” He nodded at Hikaru and walked out. “It's a nice day, let's walk outside.”

“I came to pay you,” Hikaru said as he hurried after the monk. “I'm not sure how much I own you, but...” The monk waved his hand and silenced him. 

“Come now, it is bad manners to start directly discussing such things,” he stated. “How are you? I must admit I was a little worried about you, last night.”

“Oh, I'm fine, thank you.” Hikaru bowed his head lightly. “Kind of you to ask.”

“Have you decided what you're going to do?” 

“Yes. Not the details – but I will not let things lay as they are. I've got some friends who're helping me to find out the truth.”

The monk nodded. “That's good. This is a peculiar case, and I'm sure you can use all the help you can get.”

“Yeah.” Hikaru sighed. “Actually, friends or not, I'm not sure what we can do – but I'm not giving up.”

“Have you found out anything?”

“Not much. No prove that they're lying – but they don't seem to have anything to prove their lies, either.”

“ If you want a suggestion...” the monk said quietly, and Hikaru looked at him eagerly.

“Yes?”

“Go to have a word with Seimei. He might have some knowledge useful for you.”

“Huh?” Hikaru blinked. “Wait, you mean that kid? Really? But he's just a child!”

“Not your average child, though. But if you'll excuse me, I have things to do. If you wish to talk, you'll find me around here.”

With a nod of his head, the monk was off. Hikaru bowed after him, and only when the monk had disappeared from sight did he realize he still hadn't paid him.

Talk with that kid? Well, out of that threesome he had met last night, the boy definitely had been the most sympathetic. And, if he had been living at Akitada's mansion, he might know something. So he set out for Sugawara no Akitada's mansion, arriving there quite soon after Akira had left.

Hikaru eyed the main gate a moment distrustfully. Deciding he didn't want to make any official visit – they most likely wouldn't even let him in – he headed for the side gates and slipped in unnoticed. Now, he would just have to find the boy without running across anyone else.

As he sneaked on in the quiet corridors he suddenly became aware of angry voices, arguing heatedly over something. He considered a moment – would it be wisest to head away from the voices or... to give in to curiosity? He decided on the latter and soon the voices grew clearer, and quite familiar.

_“I've been patient! But I'm beginning to reach the end...”_

Sugawara no Akitada. As silent as he could, Hikaru tiptoed closer to the thin paper wall that separated him from the men.

“As if you hadn't been trying my patience, too!” That was clearly the onmyouji's booming voice. “We spent _hours_ at the palace, and weren't even allowed into the emperor's presence! Now where's your 'influential position' at court?”

“These are exceptional times...”

“And obviously you're not quite as exceptional as you'd like to imagine!”

Someone puffed behind the wall. “But truly, _I_ am the one here who has the most to complain. I called you here for a job, and if you're not doing it...”

“I'm telling you to be _patient_. Things like this aren't done overnight.”

“That's what you keep on saying! So _how_ long is it going to take?”

There was a long silence. “I admit that this is a tricky situation,” the onmyouji said in a much more conciliatory tone. “But come, let us not fight – didn't I just explain to you how we could turn everything into our favor? You should not fret so much... this plan cannot fail.”

Akitada sighed. “Perhaps. But I'm not sure if I like this plan of yours. And this whole matter is just getting so badly on my nerves. I think I might move to my apartments at the palace. I don't like sharing my quarters with a ghost.”

Hikaru froze. A ghost?

“It probably wouldn't help. The ghost will, most likely, simply follow you – and all things considered, it'd be best for us to keep it here, right now.”

Akitada's second sigh was heartfelt. “I think I need a drink,” he murmured. “Sake!” he yelled, and Hikaru gave a start as footsteps started approaching from behind his back. Where to hide?

That instant Seimei suddenly stepped into the corridor. “This way,” the boy whispered, grasping his arm. “Don't panic; try to behave as if you belonged here.”

Servants arrived carrying the sake and certainly had to see him, but no one said anything. Most likely they had to take him as the boy's servant.

They walked to another part of the large mansion where the boy finally stopped and, after closing a slide door behind their back, turned to face him. “What are you doing here?”

“I... actually I came to see you.”

“Why?”

“Well, that monk...” Hikaru swallowed, trying to get over his nervousness. He was considerably older than this boy, so why was he feeling so jittery? “The one you got for us last night, he said you might be able to help me.”

The boy gave him a long look. “Did he? Why?”

“What do you mean why?! How should I know? He just said... and I thought... so can you help me or not?” Annoyance growing, Hikaru glared down at the boy.

“It depends on what kind of help you need.” The boy sat down on the floor by lattices which opened into a garden. The light of the soon setting sun still poured into the room, and colored the wooden floor golden. The corner of the room where they were had been separated from the rest of the room with a screen, in which a few storks flew across a setting sun. It was hardly a coincidence that this particular screen was located in a place where the evening sun lighted the colors of its painted counterpart most charmingly.

Hikaru noticed nothing of this as he sat down opposite the boy. “I want to find out the truth,” he said earnestly. “That's all – no, it's not all. I want to find out the truth, and I want _everyone_ to know the truth, too. I want to clear Sai's reputation.” He hadn't ever quite thought of it in those terms, but having said it aloud, it was perfectly clear to him. “ _That's_ what I want. Can you help me with it?”

Seimei watched him quietly a long while. “You think he didn't cheat?”

“I know he didn't! And they've got no prove he did, either. My friend went to speak with this guy who saw the match, Watanabe... whatever his name was, and he said no one actually saw it happen.”

“I've had my suspicions,” Seimei said quietly. “Akitada-sama clearly hasn't been quite honest about this case.”

“Will you help me, then?” Hikaru exclaimed. “That'd be great, I – hey, those two... what _ghost_ were they talking about?”

“The one that has been fluttering around like an overexcited butterfly ever since sensing you.”

“Wha?” Hikaru shot a startled glance around the room. “You mean there's a ghost here?”

“Indeed.” Seimei smiled a little. “He was the one to notice you, not me. And the moment he did, he forgot all about Akitada.”

“He's... _here_?” Hikaru whispered, gulping. “Like, right now?”

“He's sitting on your left side and seems to be trying to tell you something.”

“Oh.” Instinctively, Hikaru pulled first a little away. “That is... I mean, _Sai_?” He gulped again. “You mean it's him? Why is he here?”

The slide door slammed open. “The correct question is, why are _you_ here!” The enraged voice belonged to no other but Sugawara no Akitada, who stomped into the room with the onmyouji on his heels. “What is going on here!”

Hikaru sprang to his feet, glancing around. He could hardly get out through the lattice, and so the only way out was blocked by the two men. He straightened his back and turned to face them.

“I'm here to finally get to the bottom of this thing. I know you've been lying, and I...”

“Get this garbage out of my house!” Akitada yelled. Running steps approached, and servants burst into the room. “Out!” Akitada kept on shouting, pointing his finger at Hikaru.

“Hey, don't...” the boy started as the servants grasped his arms. “You can't just...”

“I can't?” Akitada's face was seething with rage. “You are intruding in my house! I could have you flogged for this, commoner trash!”

“I'm not...” Hikaru started to object, but he was already being dragged out of the room.

“Get him out and see he won't be back!”

Seimei had got up too and took a step to go after them. Toshirou placed his hand on his shoulder and stopped him.

“Where do you think you're going?” Without waiting for an answer he spun the boy around to face him. “I don't know what you're up to, but you'd better stop these games right now.”

“I'm not the one who's playing games here,” Seimei stated quietly. “I'm merely trying to figure out what is going on. If the truth is...”

“Enough! Go to your room and stay there.” Toshirou turned to the servants who were gathering to the place. “See to it that he won't be wandering around.”

“Do you really think they could stop me if I wanted to leave?” Seimei muttered.

Toshirou gave him a strict look. “Need I to remind you that your parents have entrusted your education to me? If I tell you something, you'd better obey. Now, to your room.”

Without a word Seimei turned on his heels and went.

By now, the servants had dragged Hikaru all the way to the closest gate, and, following their orders quite literally, threw him out to the street. He stumbled quickly back to his feet and turned to face them, but when he saw that Sugawara no Akitada had not bothered to follow them all the way to the gate, he just shot one final enraged look at the servants, spat on the ground and stomped away. Ignoring the angry shouts of the servants behind his back, he rubbed his hand which he had painfully scratched on the ground and pondered darkly on how to proceed with his new information.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kamo no Tadayuki is a real person from history. He got the honor to adopt Akira for the purposes of this story. In other words, just to make it completely clear, Akira's father in this story is _not_ the Meijin.


	9. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This time, some lil notes before we begin:
> 
> The Imperial Palace (or, to be exact, the Greater Imperial Palace, Daidairi) isn't any single building, but a big walled enclosure which is like a tiny town in itself. It contains both the palace buildings (Dairi) and the government offices.
> 
> And and and... you do remember Waya's and Isumi's given names, right? ^~

**Chapter 8**

Akira had spent a long while trying to find even a little piece of useful information at the ministries and offices at the palace, but with no success. He would have imagined that there had been at least some kind of an official record of a game of this importance, but apparently this wasn't the case. He had come to find the same thing Hikaru had complained about – people in general didn't seem to care.

He stood in front of the palace of administration, wondering where to go next, when a piece of conversation caught his ear.

"...could it really be? If Fujiwara no Sai hadn't..."

He spun around and spotted two young men, a little older than he, walking across the yard toward the gate leading to the Suzaku Avenue.

"Excuse me," he called, hurrying after them. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but I happened to hear you mentioning the name of Fujiwara no Sai."

The men turned to look at him. "Yes?"

"I am quite interested in what happened to him. In fact, I've been trying to find out details about the game he played against Sugawara no Akitada, but..." He suddenly realized he hadn't even introduced himself yet, and bowed. "Excuse me my manners, I'm Kamo no Akira."

"Taira no Shinichirou," the older of the two said. "And this is my brother, Yoshitaka."

Akira bowed again. "As I said, I heard you talking about Fujiwara no Sai, and wondered if you possibly know anything about him."

The two glanced at each other. "I'm sorry to say that we don't really know anything," Shinichirou said. "We were merely discussing some rumors we'd heard, that's all."

"Rumors?" Akira looked at them curiously. "This is the second time I've heard someone mentioning a rumor concerning Fujiwara no Sai, but I must admit that I haven't heard the rumor itself."

"Oh, it's not really worth..." Shinichirou began, but his brother cut him off, giving Akira an estimating look as he spoke.

"They're saying he was falsely accused, and that he killed himself, and now his spirit is causing the emperor's sickness."

"I see," Akira muttered to himself. "Well, at least a part of it seems to be true, but still it doesn't quite fit..."

"A part of it is true?" Yoshitaka said, surprised. "Which part?"

"The one about him killing himself. It is also quite possible that he _was_ innocent of cheating."

The two looked at each other in shock.

"But if that's true..." Yoshitaka exclaimed.

"Then perhaps you were right," his brother murmured.

"Right about what?"

Akira's curious question drew their attention back to him. Shinichirou looked firmly at him. "How are you related to Fujiwara no Sai? How do you know he is dead?"

"I'm not related to him at all. I merely know someone who was his student, and this someone says they just yesterday found his body in the Kamo river."

The brothers shared yet another look, this one not so easy to read. "It would seem to me that you do have some information, after all," Akira said, and Yoshitaka gave him a frown.

"You're quite nosy," he stated.

"Merely trying to help a friend," Akira replied calmly, bowing his head a little.

"The thing is," Shinichirou said a little hesitantly, "I couldn't be present during that game, and as we both share a great interest in go, my brother did his best to memorize it for me. But when he later recreated the game for me..." He fell silent, looking a little ill at ease.

"It didn't end quite like it should have," Yoshitaka went on. "Sai-sama had one moku more than when they played."

"Maybe your recollection wasn't quite perfect," Akira suggested.

"That's what I said, too," Shinichirou said.

"No way!" Yoshitaka exclaimed. "I wouldn't have made such a stupid mistake, getting it wrong by one moku!"

"And I can't really believe they would have counted the points wrong," Akira muttered. "So, where did that one moku come from?"

The question was followed by an awkward silence.

"I'd like to see the game, if you'd please," Akira stated then.

Even though the form of the sentence was that of a polite request, his tone somewhat ruined it, leaving no question to whether or not he expected to see the game, and without any delay. The younger of the brothers glowered at him. "Well, we were just leaving, so..."

"No," Shinichirou said quietly. "We're in no hurry. Come, we'll show it to you."

Once they found a quiet place where, hopefully, no one would come to bother them, they settled down by a go board. Without a word, Yoshitaka started placing stones on the board. The game that evolved was a complicated one. Akira had never yet had a chance to see a game either by Sugawara no Akitada nor Fujiwara no Sai, and although he knew them to be great players he couldn't help being amazed by the skill the game presented.

But still, half way through, something seemed to happen to white. The level of the game stayed still high, but white's play lost its serenity, becoming almost haphazard, and by the time white again regained its composure, black already had too big a lead.

"As you see, white has 51 moku, and not 50 as they said," Shinichirou said as Yoshitaka placed the final stone on the board.

"Not only that, but I'm sure that this part was in the end a little different, once they were counting the territories. Here, let me show you." Yoshitaka moved the stones swiftly. "Like this."

"It does look like Akitada-sama had one extra stone among his prisoners, doesn't it?" Akira muttered, staring hard at the board. "Say, at what point did they accuse each other of cheating?"

"Oh, that was during the exchange in this corner. It was quite a battle, so I must admit I didn't notice anything. I didn't take my eyes of the board."

"No one would, at that point." Akira gave the board a thoughtful look. "I wonder, could it really be...? Say, what is _your_ opinion? What do you think of Sugawara no Akitada? Would _he_ cheat?"

"That man's a jerk," Yoshitaka said before his brother could open his mouth. "I wouldn't be surprised."

"Come now." The look Shinichirou gave him was somewhat reproaching. "Just because you don't like him..."

"You don't like him either," Yoshitaka pointed out.

"Well, yes, but..." Shinichirou coughed, a little embarrassed. "Just because we don't like him doesn't mean he would be a cheater."

"Far likelier he would cheat, than Sai-sama," Yoshitaka stated, and his brother had nothing to say to that.

Akira stood up. "Thank you for showing me this game," he said bowing a little. "I think I must be on my way now, but..."

"Are you going to meet that friend of yours?" Yoshitaka asked, getting up as well.

"Yes..." Akira replied cautiously and winced a little when the two declared a desire to meet him too.

"This is turning into a serious matter," Shinichirou said. "We can't just walk away anymore."

"Well..." Akira shifted anxiously. "I can take you to meet him, but... he's not quite what you'd expect."

...

A little later the threesome stood in front of the tavern called _The Peacock_ , watching it with misgivings.

"Are you sure this is the correct place?" Shinichirou asked.

Akira nodded. "I told you. He is not what you'd expect." He stepped in, seeing to his relief that the place wasn't as bad as he'd feared. The customers were mainly commoners, but clearly not of the rudest stock.

"Let's..." he started to say, but in a blink of an eye an old woman appeared in front of him, kneeling on the floor and almost banging her head to it.

"Welcome underneath my humble roof, kind sirs. How can I serve you?" she croaked.

"I'm looking for someone called... Fujiwara... no Hikaru," Akira said, wondering if he should call him Fujiwara in this place or not. "I'm not sure if he has arrived yet, though."

The crone opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, someone stomped in and almost bumped into Yoshitaka.

"Watch where you go, commoner!" he snapped, and the newcomer shot him an angry look.

"Don't you start yelling at me! I've just about had my fill of you fancy – hey, there you are." Having spotted Akira he turned away in mid-sentence. "Come, we need to talk." He grasped Akira's arm and looked at the old woman. "Are Tetsuo and Kimihiro here yet? No? Can we use the same room as last night? Great. Come."

And keeping his hold on Akira's arm he marched out of the room, dragging the other with him and leaving the woman gape after him. Shinichirou and Yoshitaka shared a wide-eyed look, and followed them.

"I would appreciate it if you'd finally let go of me," Akira stated calmly as they arrived into a small room. "And what have you been up to? You look, once again, somewhat roughed up."

"This is a real mess," Hikaru snapped, obviously not paying any attention to him but at least still releasing his arm. "A real mess! And it's all that blasted guy's fault! I just knew it, from the beginning." He paced around in the room. "It all fits! If he hadn't thrown me out like that, I surely would, would... I found Sai," he stated suddenly, stopping to face Akira. "I found him!"

"I thought you found him last night," Akira said, confused. "Wasn't he dead?"

"He is! But he's at that Akitada's place, or that's what the kid told me, anyway. But I didn't have time to do anything about it before that asshole appeared and... and... what are _you_ doing here?"

The last was directed to Shinichirou and Yoshitaka, who were staring at him as if they were watching some weird foreign play they didn't quite understand.

Akira sighed. "These," he said, waving his hand toward the brothers, "are Taira no Shinichirou and Taira no Yoshitaka. They showed me that famous game all this is about. And this is... the possibly-soon-to-be Fujiwara no Hikaru, though why the Fujiwara clan would want to have someone with his manners is a mystery to me. He does play excellent go, though."

"This is that Fujiwara no Sai's student you talked about?" Yoshitaka said, wide-eyed. "Truly?"

"Truly!" Hikaru tossed his head angrily, but then what Akira had said finally registered to his mind. "Hey, do you mean you saw that game?"

"I did," Yoshitaka said, still eying him with reservation. "And there is something fishy about it. But..." He glanced at Akira. " _He_ plays excellent go?"

"Yes," Akira said. "He was once able to win even against me."

"Even against me," Yoshitaka muttered under his breath. "Who does this guy think he is?"

"But what did you mean with 'finding Sai'?" Akira asked, either not hearing Yoshitaka, or just pretending.

"Oh... there's this kid at Akitada's place, the onmyouji's nephew or whatever he was... he said Sai was there. As a ghost."

There was a moment's silence after this declaration.

"Is that rumor really true?" Shinichirou breathed, and his brother suppressed a shiver.

"They say Fujiwara no Sai is the cause of the emperor's sickness," Akira explained, mistaking Hikaru's blank look for confusion. "That he became a _goryou_ and is exacting revenge."

"Oh. Um." Hikaru's belligerence seemed to evaporate and he looked somewhat ill at ease. "I don't think it's true. If Sai's after anyone, it's Akitada and not the emperor."

"A child at Akitada's mansion told you this," Akira muttered. "I think I met that child. Interesting boy. And he did talk about a ghost..." He would have continued his ponderings, but right then two new people rushed into the room, talking excitedly.

"There you are, Hikaru! Have you heard?" one of the two exclaimed. "That rumor _was_ true, in the end!"

"No, it wasn't!" Hikaru denied vehemently, looking quite startled, but the other went on, not even noticing.

"The emperor is abdicating!"

"Oh, that rumor," Hikaru muttered.

"What!" Shinichirou exclaimed at the same time. "We were just at the palace and didn't hear anything about something like that!"

"It's everywhere on the streets!" the other newcomer went on excitedly. "There's quite an uproar! His son will receive succession _tomorrow!"_

"That's very interesting, certainly," Yoshitaka said, watching them with a frown, "but who are you people?"

Only now it seemed sink in to the newcomers that Hikaru's companions in the room were all of nobility. There was a moment's silence.

"These are Kimihiro and Tetsuo," Hikaru said then. "My childhood friends."

The silence went on, as both sides eyed each other warily, trying to figure out how they had ended up in the same room. Tetsuo was the first to get over it. He sat down with a shrug. "And these are your new friends, huh? Of a finer quality, I see."

"Well..." Hikaru looked a little awkward. "I don't really know these two, but this is Kamo no Akira, and he's been helping me-" He suddenly remembered something and turned to the nobles in the room. "Hey, that game! You saw it? So how was it?"

"Quite interesting," Akira said, sitting down too. "I don't know anything for certain, mind you, but there seems to be a strong possibility that it was in fact Sugawara no Akitada who cheated."

"What?" Hikaru exclaimed, fists clenched. "That figures! I'm gonna go and kick that guy's..." He was already heading toward the door, but Tetsuo reached his hand and grasped his leg, stopping him.

"Take it easy, man. We'd better talk this through before kicking anything."

"Yes," Akira said. "Now, we should try to get all the bits and pieces together." Everyone else sat down as well, listening, including Shinichirou and Yoshitaka who by now were much too curious to leave.

"Let's see..." Akira continued. "First of all, that game. In a quick summary: it started out ordinarily enough – or perhaps 'ordinary' isn't quite the correct word, as it's quite clear they were both masterful players. Then, during a heated battle, Sugawara no Akitada accused his opponent of cheating – who, in his turn, claimed that it was Akitada-sama who had cheated. Is this true?" Yoshitaka nodded, and he went on. "The emperor refused to believe either of them would do such a thing, so there was no more talk about it, but white had lost its composure and ended up losing. But, based on the recreation of the game by Yoshitaka-sama, it was in fact Sai-sama who had somehow lost one extra point in the end." He frowned. "What I don't quite understand is how something like this could really happen. Certainly someone would have noticed that something was off." He thought of his father's friend, Watanabe no Tadatsuna.

"The difference in the end was more than just one moku, so perhaps they didn't want to cause a scandal when it wouldn't have changed the result," Shinichirou said, but he didn't quite sound as if he really believed it himself.

Akira shook his head. "What happened had an effect on white's play. And if Akitada-sama _did_ cheat, he is clearly unfit for his position, no matter by how many moku he won."

"But he's an old face at court," Yoshitaka said. "Whereas Fujiwara no Sai... young, new, from the provinces..." His voice trailed off.

Hikaru, who had been sitting surprisingly still for a while suddenly hit the floor with his fist. "That bastard! I'm gonna make him pay, if it's the last thing I do!"

"Admirable determination," Tetsuo said with a snort. He and Kimihiro had been sitting a little aside quite quietly, but following everything with great interest. "We'd better keep an eye on him, so that he won't do anything stupid."

"What?" Hikaru puffed, looking even more indignant when Akira nodded in agreement.

"Say, what have you been up to? You said something about being thrown out of somewhere."

"I was at Akitada's," Hikaru said with a frown. "I was just speaking with that kid when he burst into the room and told his servants to throw me out. My hand's still hurting." He rubbed his scratched hand sullenly.

"You mean you were intruding in a nobleman's private mansion?" Akira asked with raised eyebrows. "You're lucky if you escaped just with scratches. Apparently we really do have to keep an eye on you."

Hikaru gave him a dark look. "Whatever. Anyway, when I was there, I heard Akitada and that onmyouji friend of his arguing, and they mentioned a ghost. And then I met that boy, and he said the ghost is Sai – or... I guess he didn't really say it, but implied it anyway. I didn't have time to ask more before I was lucky enough to be just thrown out."

"A ghost?" Kimihiro exclaimed, eyes wide. "For real?"

Hikaru nodded. "It seems you were half right with your, umm, idea of what could have happened. He's been haunting Akitada."

There was a moment's silence. "So what should we do?" Yoshitaka asked then. "Come now, we've got to do something!" he exclaimed when his brother gave him a dismayed look. "I've felt something's rotten to the core here ever since that game. We need to find out what's the truth here!"

Shinichirou sighed, but nodded in agreement. "The timing is a little bad, though. If the emperor really is abdicating, the next days aren't good for things like this."

"But..." Hikaru started, but Akira nodded and cut him off.

"We can still do our research. As it is, we don't really have any proof."

"But...!" Hikaru exclaimed again.

"Proof's the tricky part," Tetsuo muttered, not listening to him. "But it shouldn't be hopeless. There's other invisible people at that guy's mansion than just a ghost. I could go to have a word with them."

"Huh?" Hikaru looked at him, confused. "Invisible people?"

"Servants," Kimihiro said. "They are everywhere, and thin walls keep no secrets."

Tetsuo grinned. "Actually, I've heard there's a pretty wench at the kitchen there. I've been meaning to check her out, anyway."

Kimihiro gave him a look. "I don't think this is a time to think about dallying with girls. But otherwise it's a good idea. We could go there..."

"We?" Tetsuo exclaimed. "No, no, how can I talk with a girl if you're hanging around? You'll ruin the mood totally!"

"Ruin the mood! What are you..."

"Nevertheless," Akira put in, "even if you'll find out something, it might not be enough. Servants' word wouldn't have much weight against their master's. Though I guess it doesn't hurt to try – at least nobody knows you there, so who knows, you might be able to find out something."

Tetsuo snorted. "You don't sound too confident," he stated, and Akira looked at him levelly.

"In truth, I don't quite see what you'd be able to learn that we don't already know – not to mention that servants aren't supposed to gossip about their master's business."

Tetsuo burst into laughter. "Hey, do you hear?" He clapped Kimihiro's back. "We're not supposed to gossip. Isn't that guy a riot?"

Akira's look darkened. "I'm beginning to see where you've learned your manners," he muttered with a sidelong look at Hikaru who deemed it safest to say nothing.

They sat long into the night talking about the situation and trying to form a plan. The discussion wasn't very fruitful, though, and in the end they agreed to go on their own ways, looking for information the best they could, and contact each other if they found out anything. Akira lingered a little longer after others had left.

"If you wish, you can come to meet my father tomorrow," he said to Hikaru who was still sitting on the floor of the now quite empty room. "This is, in the end, onmyou business."

"I might," Hikaru sighed, rubbing his tired temples, but left it at that for the moment. Once Akira took his leave as well, Hikaru found himself spending another night at Tetsuo's granny's tavern. He told himself he was too tired to walk all the way home – and the badly slept previous night really was beginning to kick in – but in truth he just didn't feel like facing his worried mother and all her questions.

...

After Hikaru had been thrown out, Seimei had went to his room, as ordered. Now, he was sitting on his bed, thinking. Time had passed, and he was quite certain it was already long past supper time, although no one had called him to eat or brought him anything. Bed without supper? There were worse things.

And worse worries. He wouldn't have wanted to admit it, but he didn't have a clue of what he should do next. Going against his own uncle whose apprentice he was, was – well, not unthinkable, as he was thinking about it all the time, but still not something he was eager to do. He lay down on the bed, releasing a breath that was almost like a sigh. As he closed his eyes, he tried to figure out the situation, but his thoughts kept on slipping to his home, and he found himself wishing he had never left to his uncle's. And at that time, he had been excited about it...

Thinking about his home and his parents, he drifted somewhere between sleep and awake, but suddenly his eyes snapped open. A moment he stared at the ceiling, hardly daring to breath, wondering if he really felt what he thought he felt, and then he jumped up.

There was a servant sitting by the doorway of his room – asleep. Not that there would have been any trouble even if the man had been awake. He gave the servant a short look and hurried on, into the garden.

Perhaps he _had_ fallen asleep, for it was much darker now, but this night too was moonlit and he had no trouble to see the familiar figure that was sitting by the garden's artificial lake. He resisted the urge to run to her, and instead walked there quietly.

"Mother," he said as he came to a stop by her, and the woman looked up with a smile.

"Good evening, my heart. Or maybe good night, at this time?"

"Good evening, mother." He tried not to fidget. "Why are you here?"

"You have been away a long time," she said softly. "I had a feeling you might miss me."

He said nothing, just watched the shimmering moonlight on the lake's water. It made him think of the previous night, and the events at the river.

"How are you doing?" his mother asked, as he remained quiet.

"I am fine, mother."

"But?" she probed gently.

"But..." He sat down next to her. "My uncle's friend isn't honest about the matter why we are here. And my uncle doesn't care."

"Do you know the truth?"

"I think I'm beginning to guess." He sighed and leaned his head against her. "I don't like these people, mother. Even my uncle who calls himself an onmyouji... he is so preoccupied with things of this material world he can't see further than his nose."

She gave a little laugh and covered her mouth with her sleeve. "Well, that won't do. But come, tell me what is worrying you so."

As Seimei explained to her all he knew, she sat quietly watching the starry sky, fingering softly her fan with a tiny smile on her lips. When the boy fell silent, she gave a small sigh, more amused than anything else.

"This truly won't do," she repeated. "But don't worry, my heart, I will find someone else for you. Now, go back to bed. The night is chilly, don't catch cold."

"Yes, mother," he said obediently. "Good night."

She gave him a small kiss on his forehead as she stood up, and walked away. As he watched after her, feeling greatly relieved, for a short moment he caught a glimpse of a tail among her robes. Then she was gone. He turned to go back inside, but then his eyes fell on an apple tree standing in the garden, branches heavy with fruits, and he decided to serve himself a late supper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've some basic knowledge of go, but... very basic indeed. But if I've understood correctly, the prisoners are used to diminish your opponent's territory in the end, and so, if Akitada has one extra prisoner, it would mean that Sai gets one point less...
> 
> **goryou:** vengeance ghosts from the aristocratic classes, especially those who have been martyred. The word consists of two kanji, meaning “honorable spirit.”
> 
> **Receiving succession:** Before the ninth century senso and sokui were both used for the enthronement, but during the Heian period they came to refer to two different ceremonies: succession (senso), in which the emperor receives the divine objects, and accession to the throne (sokui). The reason for dividing the ceremony into two apparently was that some time had to pass so that the taint of death (of the previous emperor) on the throne would diminish before the enthronement of the next. (Or something like this. It's been a bit problematic to find out anything exact about this.)
> 
> Legend says that Abe no Seimei's mother was a kitsune called Kuzunoha (kudzu leaf). You can read the story on [wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuzunoha).


	10. Chapter 9

Next morning Hikaru rose up together with the sun. After short consideration he decided that he had to go home, or at least drop by there. Whether or not he'd take Akira's offer and go to see his father, he most likely would have to visit nobility, or perhaps even the imperial palace, and being dressed up like a commoner would just unnecessarily complicate things. He really hoped his mother had got his clothes clean.

On the way home he tried to figure out how much to tell her. Most likely it wouldn't be possible to say nothing, but he could hardly start talking about ghosts and onmyouji and midnight funerals. It would simply freak her out, and that was the last thing he needed.

He hadn't yet quite made his mind when he arrived home where, sure enough, his mother was waiting for him with that worried expression on her face he remembered all too well from his childhood misadventures. Compared to the present day, though, his problems those days had been quite trifling.

"I just came to change," he said casually. "Did you get my clothes clean?"

Without a word his mother nodded and gave him the clothes. With her clumsy help – she wasn't quite used to this kind of clothing – he changed into them. She was still silent, and this made him feel even more ill at ease than all the questions he had been expecting.

"I guess I'll be going again, then," he muttered when he was ready. "I've got a lot to do." He headed out, eager to escape this silence, but stopped after a few steps. He could feel his mother's eyes on his back and, in the end, couldn't leave just like that.

"It's a bit complicated," he said, turning back with a sigh. "But, you see..." His eyes met those of his mother, and he fell silent. A moment they stared at each other, she barely breathing as she waited for him to go on, and he suddenly losing all his words.

"Sai is dead," he finally breathed, swallowed, and by sheer willpower kept the tears in check. He would _not_ start crying in front of his mother like a little baby. "I don't know if you've heard of it, but they accused him of cheating, and... it all ended up with him taking his life." He swallowed again. "And we're tying to find out what really happened."

The color of her eyes seemed to darken. "I did... hear something like that. I was hoping... but..." She shook her head. "Dead. Gods. Are you alright?"

Hikaru nodded, but she just shook her head again. "And you haven't even paid proper respects to your father, yet. Another death... ay, this is a bad year."

Somehow he managed a little smile. "Don't worry mother. I'll manage. And this doesn't really change anything." At least he hoped so. "But I really must go now."

She watched in silence as he turned away and left.

~

The old emperor abdicating and the new receiving succession meant that the university would be closed on this day. This suited Kamo no Akira quite well. He doubted he would have been able to concentrate on lectures, anyway. At the moment he was sitting in a quiet corner in his father's home, deep in thought.

The previous day, he had suggested to Hikaru that they could approach his father on this subject. Perhaps it would be the wisest course. In the end, even if they had proof, none of them was influential enough to do something with it, but his father, on the other hand, was another story. He had created himself quite a reputation as an onmyouji, even though it was mainly in the fields of astronomy and calendar science, and his younger son seemed to follow his footsteps quite closely. Akira had never really shown any talent for onmyoudo, and he had never quite felt to be a part of the world in which his father and brother lived. And for them the game of go, the most important thing in his life, had no significance except as a possible method of divination.

He was still pondering whether he should go to his father right away or wait to ask Hikaru's opinion, when a servant appeared and informed him his father wished to speak with him. He stood up, surprised and a little nervous, and left to see him. He was even more surprised, coming to his father, when he saw his brother was there as well. As he sat down, he wondered if this would be a good time to bring up the subject of Fujiwara no Sai. He didn't have to wonder long, though.

"I called you here because of two letters I have received," his father said. "The first," he held up a paper, "is from my friend Watanabe no Tadatsuna."

~

Seimei had slept long that morning, and once he woke up he found out that things had improved a little from the previous day. Now, at least, he was allowed to leave his room, though he was informed that he should not leave the mansion itself, and there was breakfast prepared for him, a little more good-sized a portion than what was customary. When he asked for his uncle and Sugawara no Akitada, he was told that they had left early to the palace because the emperor would be abdicating this day.

He found the latter piece of information a little surprising, though most likely he shouldn't have. He had somehow imagined that Akitada had been exaggerating the emperor's state. Nevertheless, he was happy to have been left alone. As he wandered through the mansion into the garden, he noted that he didn't see the ghost anywhere and wondered if it had followed Akitada this time. This worried him a little. There might be some potent onmyouji present at the imperial palace, and a day like this wasn't a good time for a ghost to appear there.

He came to the same place where he had been sitting last night with his mother. That encounter felt now quite dream-like, but he knew well it wasn't any dream. He settled down, and waited.

~

"Ah," Akira said. "I see." He didn't, really. Just why had that old man written to his father, and about what?

"I hear you visited him yesterday. Why?"

Akira considered his words carefully. "I was... looking for information, for a friend." Had the man been somehow offended by his inquiries?

"About Fujiwara no Sai."

He bowed his head. "Yes. And that game between him and Sugawara no Akitada."

His father looked down at the letter with a frown. "All the silly rumors circulating in the city, together with your visit, have quite severely disturbed my friend's peace of mind. I have sent him a reply, assuring him that there is nothing to worry about. The emperor's sickness isn't caused by any vengeful ghost, nor is it likely that such a fate would await the spectators of that game. But why," he raised his eyes to his son, "why are you... and your friend... interested in this?"

"Those rumors aren't quite so silly, father," Akira said softly. "There really is a ghost, though it's not the emperor who is haunted, but Sugawara no Akitada. You see..." he looked up at his father who was watching him quite intently. "Fujiwara no Sai is dead. After that fateful game he drowned himself in the Kamo river. But, as far as we can tell, he didn't cheat in that game. His opponent did. And so his spirit is haunting Sugawara no Akitada, looking for justice."

His father remained quiet for a long moment, while his brother stared at him with slightly wide eyes. "How do you know all this?" Kamo no Tadayuki finally asked, and Akira told him everything from the time he had first met Hikaru at the Divine Spring Garden. The man listened quietly, and when he finally finished, nodded slowly.

"Abe no Seimei, huh..." he muttered silently, and Akira gave him a curious look. What about the boy?

"I will have to think about this," his father said before he could ask. He knew that sentence for what it was, a dismissal. Once again his father and brother were about to enter the world of onmyou, of which he was excluded.

He bowed down, but didn't get up yet. "You mentioned another letter, father."

The man looked at the papers in front of him. "That... is a different matter," he simply said, and looked at his son with a raised eyebrow as Akira still wasn't getting up.

Akira bowed again. "I would like to stay, if you don't mind. I'm already quite deeply involved in this."

His father gave him a long look, but nodded in the end. He rose up, and together with both of his sons entered the onmyou chambers.

~

Seimei almost didn't notice it at first, the pair of bright eyes that watched him from the bushes. When he did, he jumped to his feet, heartbeat quickening in excitement.

"Hey," he whispered. "Did mother send you?"

A little fox head peeked from the bushes, took a careful look at the garden, and then, having deemed it safe, the whole animal stepped out. The fox looked up at the boy, and he grinned.

"That's great. Let's go, then."

Getting out of the mansion couldn't have been easier. A simple spell to persuade the servants not to look in his direction – a handy thing to know, and something he definitely hadn't learned from his uncle – and he walked out without a hindrance, following the fox. The little animal seemed to have a similar persuasion on, as no one paid any attention to a fox walking on the streets in broad daylight.

He had not walked long when he noticed a familiar figure ahead – no, two familiar figures, he noted in surprise. He hurried after them.

"Good morning."

The boy he spoke to, none other than Hikaru, turned to look back with a start. "Oh, it's you! I mean... morning."

"I hope you're alright," Seimei went on. "Akitada's servants weren't too rough?"

"Nah. Just threw me out, is all. I'm fine. Eh, thanks for asking." He was watching the boy a bit hesitantly. "So, um, where are you going?"

"I'm not quite sure, but I expect to find out soon. For now, we seem to be heading to the same direction."

"Oh."

As Hikaru just stood there and kept on staring at him with a weird expression, he made a small inquiring move with his hand. The fox was growing impatient. "Or... were you going somewhere else?"

The older boy gave a start, as if waking up. "Oh! No, I'm going that way. I think."

"You think?" Seimei asked, as they started walking again.

"Well," Hikaru scratched his ear thoughtfully. "I think I might go to see a friend of mine. Or his father, really. Maybe. I don't know. I'm just not sure if I want to. I mean, all that onmyouji business is kinda creepy." He blushed a little, remembering who he was talking with. "No offense," he muttered.

Seimei just shrugged it off. They walked across the wide Suzaku Avenue, this time of the day quite a busy street. Carts rolled by, drawn by oxes and by men, and both nobility and commoners were out, hurrying here and there, perhaps with a bit more urgency as usual, as everyone wanted to get their business finished soon, so that once evening would come and the new emperor receive succession, they would be free to celebrate.

When they reached the cool shadow of the willows that lined the avenue, Hikaru threw uncertain glances at the younger boy, hesitating again. "You talked about a ghost," he said finally. "You did mean Sai, right?"

Seimei nodded. "Yes."

"So he's at Akitada's mansion?"

"Not anymore."

"What?" Hikaru shot him a startled look. "What do you mean, not anymore?"

"Do you really mean you don't notice anything?" Seimei asked him, at the same time disbelieving and curious. "How _can_ you not feel anything? He's right here."

"Here?" Hikaru spun around. "Where?"

"I did notice he had disappeared from the mansion," Seimei went on without stopping, and Hikaru had to spring after him. "But I thought he had simply followed Akitada-sama. It seems it was you he has been following."

"You mean I've been walking around with a ghost all this time?" Hikaru asked, quite wide-eyed.

"Apparently. But it seems I've reached my destination." Seimei stopped and looked at the fox that had sat down in front of grand mansion's gate.

"But, wait," Hikaru spluttered. "You can't just tell me something like that, and then... oh." He looked at the mansion a little more closely. "I think this is where I'm going to, too." He blinked. "But why are you here?"

"Who lives here?" Seimei asked without answering his question, and Hikaru blinked again.

"Huh? That friend of mine. Kamo no Akira."

Seimei nodded thoughtfully. "Makes sense."

"What makes sense?" Hikaru asked, but the boy was already heading in and didn't hear him.

A little while later they were sitting inside the mansion, facing Kamo no Tadayuki and his two sons. Hikaru shifted a little nervously, glancing from one person to another. He didn't have a clue what was going on, but everyone seemed to be more interest in his young companion than in him – everyone except Akira, who was watching him quite intently.

"I received a letter from your mother this morning," Tadayuki said. "I didn't expect you quite yet, though."

"I was sent here now," Seimei said, bowing a little. "What... if I may ask, what did my mother say?"

"You don't know? She had a... suggestion. But we can talk more about that later. Now..." he glanced at Akira, then at Hikaru, and then somewhere a little past the still quite confused boy. "Now there are more important things to discuss."

"Is it really true?" Hikaru asked, a little timidly. "About the ghost? I mean, he said..." His voice trailed off as Kamo no Tadayuki nodded.

"There is a strong presence following you." He glanced at his younger son, while Akira stared at him with great surprise. "Yasunori?"

"I can sense it too, father," the boy said. "Almost... see it. But not quite."

"I thought the ghost was supposed to haunt Sugawara no Akitada?" Tadayuki asked, turning back to Hikaru.

"That's how it used to be," Seimei replied. "But it looks like the ghost is quite fond of him." He nodded toward Hikaru.

"I've heard the story from my son," Tadayuki said, "but I'd like to hear it again directly from you."

He looked straight at Hikaru who drew a little shaky breath and launched to his story. He was interrupted many times with questions, and every now and then Seimei added some details from his point of view.

"I need to consult my calendars," Tadayuki stated once the boys fell silent. He rose up. "Before you came, I already saw some strange things in the paths of the stars. But I need to take another look at it now that I know more." He nodded a little at Hikaru. "Please wait here – I don't want your otherworldly companion to affect the results. Come," he said to his younger son and Seimei, who got up with great satisfaction being invited with them.

Akira and Hikaru remained behind as the three left. They looked at each other in deep silence, which Akira finally broke.

"Does this mean Fujiwara no Sai is here?"

"That's what they're saying," Hikaru muttered. "But I don't know anything. I don't know what's going on."

Silence took over again. Quiet birdsong carried in from the garden, but otherwise everything was quiet – one could almost hear the breathing of the two boys who both attempted to come up with something to say, and failed.

"How about a game while we wait?" Akira finally said, and this time Hikaru was relieved by the suggestion. He flashed a tiny smile.

"Great idea."

Akira sent for a go board, and once it arrived, the atmosphere relaxed instantly. They bent over it, eager to pass the time until they would be needed again.

~

A couple of hours later when the three onmyouji returned, the scene they faced was quite hectic.

"How can you call _that_ a good move! With moves like that you wouldn't win against a half-blind imbecile!"

"You're one to talk! It's not like your move here was something to brag about!"

Kamo no Tadayuki stopped by the go board and cleared his throat, but to no avail.

"What do you mean? It's a perfectly valid..."

"I could have captured all these stones if I'd played here after that!"

"But you didn't, so don't...!"

"What are you two doing?" Tadayuki asked, rather loudly to be heard over the yelling. The two boys fell silent and turned to look at him with blank expressions, as if it took them a moment to realize there were other people in the world too, and these other people were perfectly entitled to disturb them during their 'discussion'.

"We're playing go, father," Akira finally stated.

"I never knew go was quite that loud," Tadayuki muttered, looking down at the board with a shake of his head. "Do you think you could have a break?"

"Of course," Akira muttered looking a little embarrassed and started putting the stones away. "What have you concluded?"

"We had a long talk, examined stars and calendars. There is a big distortion here, which needs to be corrected. How, that is the question. It would help to find out, without any uncertainty, all that truly happened that day."

"So why don't you just ask Sai?" Hikaru asked. "If he's right here, and you can see him and all..."

"It isn't quite so simple. A ghost... is something incomplete, like yin without yang, a memory of something that was. It is a concentration of energy that can take the form it had during life, if you have the skill to see it. But you're right. We should ask him. And there is one way."

The way he was watching Hikaru made the boy swallow. "What kind of a way?" he asked, mouth dry, wondering if he wanted to know.

"Having him speak through a medium. In other words, he must possess someone."

He definitely didn't want to know this. "Possess?" he asked meekly. "As in... kinda taking over the body and, and... so?"

"And so," Kamo no Tadayuki agreed. "Because of your connection, you would be the best candidate. We can send for someone else, if you'd prefer not to do this."

"You mean I don't have to?" Hikaru breathed, immensely relieved.

"You're not going to do it?" Akira asked, sounding surprised. "You're not afraid of him, are you?"

"I..." Hikaru fell silent. He remembered how he had just a little ago strongly objected at the possibility of Sai turning into a vehement, vengeful spirit. Afraid of Sai? How could he ever be afraid of Sai... Not to mention, what would Sai think of him if he wasn't ready to do this much for him. "I guess I'll do it," he finally muttered.

"Good." Tadayuki nodded. "We don't have much time – I have to leave to the palace as soon as I can. I'd like to get this done today, as the stars are favorable, we would have to wait days for a next suitable day." He shook his head, slightly amused. "What an absurd situation. Helping a ghost to possess someone? Usually our work is quite the opposite. But come, let's get started."


	11. Chapter 10

Hikaru was sitting on the floor, eyes closed, hands in his lap, trying his best to relax as he'd been told to do. He breathed slowly and steadily, in, out, in, out, concentrating only on that, but still his heartbeat refused to calm down.

"Are you ready?" he heard Kamo no Tadayuki's voice. He clenched his fists, feeling them all sweaty, and thought, _no_.

"I guess," he muttered. "As ready as I'll be."

"I'll start, then. Just try to stay relaxed, don't fight it. Go with the current. And don't worry, this will only last for a short moment, and he will be gone once I say so."

He started the incantation. For a moment Hikaru's breathing quickened, but he forced it down again. The words, meaningless to him, washed over him like a wave, and a tremor went through his body. Gradually the incantation, repeated over and over again, merged into an incomprehensible mumble that he barely heard over the hum of blood in his ears. He could feel something, now, behind his back, a presence growing stronger and stronger.

Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in...

_/Hikaru./_

For a moment he lost the rhythm of his breathing, struggled to restore it. In... out. In. Out.

_/Hikaru... are you certain... Is this alright?/_

"Yes," he muttered aloud, although he was far from being sure. The presence grew stronger yet, and now, slowly, it was beginning to feel familiar. Fear diminishing he let go, feeling himself slip somewhere far behind as something else took over his body.

Akira watched the scene intently behind his father and the two young onmyouji. It was weird, not to mention a little creepy, to see the subtle changes in Hikaru's face. At first, the concentration, a frown deepening and fading in turns, before slowly disappearing for good. Growing more relaxed moment by moment the boy looked as if he were about to fall asleep, but then, suddenly, his head gave a jolt and his eyes snapped open, staring straight back at Akira – Hikaru's eyes, but still there was something different.

"Fujiwara no Sai?" Kamo no Tadayuki asked quietly.

Hikaru – or at least Hikaru's head – nodded a little jerkily. "Yes," he said, but his voice was mumbled, as if he wasn't quite in complete control of his tongue.

"Why are you here?"

Hikaru drew a shaky breath. "I... I'm not sure, myself," he said, more clearly but quite quietly. "I didn't want to go. Not like this. Not yet. I wanted more. More go, more games with brilliant opponents, and... I... didn't want to leave..."

"More go? It is a little late for that."

There was no answer, but Hikaru's head bent a little.

"Why did you go to Sugawara no Akitada?" Tadayuki asked after a moment's silence.

The boy shuddered. "Akitada," he muttered. "I don't understand him. Why would he... how _could_ he... he's such a great player, I thought he would love the game, too... but he always, always just played to win. Not to explore, not to deepen his knowledge... just for victory... but still... I don't understand. Why?"

He looked up, and Akira shuddered in his turn at the haunted look in his eyes.

"What happened during that game?"

"A white stone," Hikaru murmured. "A white stone among his black ones. Why? I saw his eyes, I know... he didn't hesitate, didn't feel a thing about it... To mar the game like that... someone of his skill, his station..." He was rocking gently back and forth, repeating the question. "Why?"

"Because he saw you as a threat," Akira heard himself saying, suddenly angry. "He is a selfish man, one who desperately clings to all power he can get, and doesn't want to share. Being just the retired emperor's go teacher wouldn't be enough for him, no – he wants to stay in the ruling court. Have the ruling emperor's ear. He might be a go player, but even go isn't as important to him as his position."

There was immense sadness on Hikaru's face. "What a fool..." he whispered. "The levels we could have reached..."

"Are you here for revenge, then?" Tadayuki asked quietly. "For justice? That would have been easier to achieve when you were still alive."

Hikaru/Sai sat quietly, very still, and didn't seem to even hear him. Memories flashed through his mind, random bits and pieces completely out of order. _Black eyes, full of hate. Stones on a go board, with no order, no sense, mocking him. Mean whispers behind his back... cold, cold sweat of despair rolling down from his temples, a lonely path, with no light, no destination, for him to walk alone... You have no place here anymore. Scurry back to the provinces. Hateful words, and more gentle ones, but still as hurtful. Go. Let the water settle._

As long as the wings of hate beat, when will the water ever settle...

He sobbed, and tears rolled freely down his cheeks.

"I think it's best to cut this here," Tadayuki said softly, watching him cry. "I'll see if I manage to catch a word with Sugawara no Akitada at the palace tonight – or possibly, rather, go to meet him tomorrow. It isn't good to mark a day like this with such inauspicious things. You can step back now."

"Already?" Hikaru's eyes darted to Akira, pleading. "Couldn't I... now that I'm here..."

"You are just borrowing that body, don't forget it. The less time you spend in it, the better, lest you grow too attached to it."

"Yes, but...!"

"Go," Tadayuki said, made a movement with his fingers, and Hikaru blinked into consciousness.

"I think he just wanted to play a game," he muttered wiping the tears from his cheeks. "Couldn't he have... I mean, I wouldn't have minded..."

"As I said, that kind of possession is best kept as short as possible. Besides," Tadayuki stood up, "there is no time right now. I need to make myself ready for the palace – I should be there already. Do you feel alright? Normal? Good. Please feel free to stay as our guest meanwhile. In fact, it would be best you won't go wandering around with a ghost in tow. You two," he added to the two young onmyouji, "keep an eye on him. One can't be too careful with ghosts."

The boys nodded, and he left. An awkward silence took over the room.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Akira finally broke it. "You look a little pale."

"I'm fine. It just was... really weird."

"Without a doubt," Akira muttered. "Perhaps we should go out for a while, into fresh air."

"I think he really would have wanted to play with you," Hikaru said as they walked toward the garden. "He must have been watching the games we played."

"I would have wanted to play with him, too. I don't think I have ever had a chance to play against an opponent like him."

"I bet! He was so, so... hey, I know! Let's bring the board to the garden and I'll show you some old games he's played. Like, there was one he played against his father, and it was just incredible."

"That's a great idea! I'll have the board..." Turning around, Akira saw his brother and Seimei, following them like shadows, and he frowned. "Why don't you two go somewhere and, I don't know, talk some onmyou things or something? You'll just get bored watching us."

"Father said..." his brother started.

"I know. I'll keep an eye on him."

Yasunori didn't look convinced. "You are quite blind and deaf where things like this are concerned."

"I don't know about that," Seimei put in. "When we first met, he did sense the ghost."

"He did?" Yasunori asked in surprise, at the same time as Akira said, "I did? Oh, I did feel something there in the garden."

"I'm sure they'll be fine," Seimei stated. "We can stay somewhere close by. There are many things I'd like to ask you."

Yasunori didn't need much persuasion – he must have been eager to speak with Seimei too. They didn't go far, though, just to a different corner of the garden from where they could still see Akira and Hikaru.

"Why didn't you want them around?" Hikaru asked as they sat down by the go board.

Akira shrugged a little uncomfortably. "Yasunori can be a bit annoying at times... getting a little haughty with all this 'secret knowledge' I don't have. It's just... well. Younger brothers, you know? Or do you have any siblings?"

"Nope," Hikaru said. "But I've got Akari, so I guess I understand. She's my childhood friend, our neighbor," he explained at Akira's questioning look. "We've known each other since we were kids, and she's pretty fun, most of the time, but... even without any 'secret knowledge', she can be something of a pain." He fell silent, with a thoughtful look on his face. "Or... well. I don't know. Maybe she wasn't that bad."

He grasped a stone, but didn't yet place it on the board. "Do you think Akitada will be at the palace tonight?" he asked, twiddling the stone in his fingers.

"Certainly. All officials will be there tonight. Father might not be able to talk with him, though."

"Why him, anyway?" Hikaru frowned, a little darkly. "I mean, shouldn't we go directly to the emperor or something?"

"Which emperor?" Akira muttered. "Besides, approaching the emperor isn't such a simple thing. Let's just let my father proceed as he sees best."

Hikaru's frown deepened. "When will he be back?"

"I'm not sure... very late, or most likely tomorrow. But right now it's best just to be patient and wait. After all, what's the hurry?"

Hikaru sighed. "I guess you're right. I'd have wanted the old emperor be the one to clear Sai's reputation, but I guess it's too late for that, anyway." He finally placed the stone on the board. "I'll show you that game."

The day passed quietly, the peace being only occasionally disrupted by a heated discussion concerning the superiority of certain moves over others. Evening came, and Akira's father didn't return home. Hikaru watched the darkening night with somewhat resigned impatience. "Night falls, in its darkness the truth is hiding, only the ghosts know it," he muttered.

Akira blinked. "What was that?"

"Poetry."

Akira said nothing, and Hikaru shot him a glare. "Okay, so maybe I'm not the greatest poet. So what?"

"I didn't say anything," Akira pointed out, pacifying.

"Your silence is pretty eloquent," Hikaru snorted.

Despite this, Akira deemed it best to remain quiet.

...

That night, in his dreams, he was Sai.

_He couldn't remember walking all the way home, but he must have done that, for there he was, in his father's city mansion, kneeling in front of his go board. His hand was placing stones on the board, one after another, recreating that horrible game, even though the only thing he wanted was to forget all about it. He was alone. He must have seen some servants as he came home, but he had no memory of that either, no idea what he'd told them, if anything._

_His hand stopped. Here, after that move,_ it _had happened. He still couldn't comprehend it. He could hear the accusation ringing in his ears, and the emperor's strict command to continue the game. Slowly his hand picked another stone, and another, and another, placing them on the board as he watched his game fall apart._

_How could he let that happen? Yes, certainly, the way Akitada cheated was shocking, his lies even more so. Still. How could he play a game like this?_

_The game reached its bitter end. He sat in silence, staring at the board without truly seeing it, as tears rolled down his cheeks, falling softly among the black and white stones._

_._

Black eyes, full of hate. Stones on a go board, with no order, no sense, mocking him. Mean whispers behind his back... cold, cold sweat of despair rolling down from his temples, a lonely path, with no light, no destination, for him to walk alone...

_He woke up by the go board, disoriented and still weary. The stones had not changed their shapes while he slept, cruelly telling him that no, it had not been just a bad dream. He wiped at them, a sudden, angry motion he regretted even before the stones clattered across the floor. He gathered them quickly, black and white ones neatly into their own bowls._

_He should contact someone. Perhaps, send a message to his father. He would know what to do... Or, would it be better first to approach their relatives here in the capital, ask them for help? Maybe he should write to them, first._

_...no one had sent_ him _a message. Why? Even on a normal day, messages traveled across the city in an unending stream, messengers hurrying from house to house with poems of love and reproach, condolences and felicitations... how come no one had thought of him this morning?_

_No use to send messages. Better to go in person._

_._

_The cart stood quietly in front of a mansion, waiting. He sat inside, hands clasped together, head a little bowed. The curtains were down, but they couldn't keep out the noises of the city. The shouts of the peasants, someone playing flute somewhere faraway, a dog barking, another cart passing his... everything sounded so perfectly normal._

_"My lord?" a voice asked outside. "Where should we go next?"_

_He closed his eyes, saying nothing. Outside, someone shifted from foot to foot, restless, and an ox sighed._

_This was the third place where he had been denied entrance. True enough, he had been told no one was home, but there was something in the way that was said that made him suspect... He raised his head, suddenly making up his mind._

_"Take me to Sugawara no Akitada."_

_._

_Here, at least, he was allowed to enter. He could hear many voices – apparently he wasn't the only visitor Akitada had today – but he was taken to an empty room. He sat down on the floor, and waited. After a short while, Akitada appeared in the doorway._

_He could see the same hatred he remembered from their game in Akitada's eyes, and still he did not understand it. Nor did he understand the man's words, filled with the same hatred._

_You have no place here anymore._

_Scurry back to the provinces._

_I'll see to it that you won't be coming back._

_Go. I have more important guests waiting._

_"Wait!" He sprung to his feet and rushed after the man. He saw Akitada entering another room and ran there, but came to an abrupt stop as he saw the people inside._

_The conversation paused. Eyes turned to him and looked then away, awkwardly. Someone muttered, Akitada said something, but he couldn't hear the words. His eyes were fixed on the go board around which everyone was gathered. On the board he saw again that awful game, and it was only with great difficulty he managed to look away. His gaze wandered from one face to another, all of them avoiding his eyes. Familiar faces, every single one, some belonging to those he had tried to go to see – ah, so they truly had not been home._

_"Do you hear me?" Akitada's voice was sharp. "I've asked you to go twice, now. Do I need to call my servants?"_

_He shifted on his feet, restless and uncertain. He wanted to appeal to these people, ask if they truly believed he would do such a deed, but seeing the coldness on their faces he couldn't find the words._

_"Do go," someone muttered, still not looking up. "It's for the best." He stared at the speaker, an old man, avid go player, but for the death of him he couldn't remember the name, just the go this man played. The man glanced at him from the corner of his eye, looking somehow shamefaced. "Someday, certainly, you can come back, but for now... let the water settle."_

_._

_He was walking on the streets. One step after another his feet carried him somewhere, with no other destination than away. He'd left the cart behind, and the confused servants as well. He kept on walking down the Suzaku Avenue, all the way to Rashomon, that great, beautiful gate that was already falling into disrepair. A shudder went through his body as he passed it, but he didn't stop, didn't look behind._

_He walked on, on, on, leaving behind the capital, the treacherous, beautiful capital and its go players of such wicked skill. He kept on walking a long time, the whole day, until his steps took him to the shore of a river.. High up, the round moon shed its light on him, on the waves of the river as he stood still on the river bank._

_Let the water settle? The moonlight rippled on the river as the waves rolled by him. Let the water settle... how long would that take? Would it ever happen? How... how could he ever return to the capital, if he left it like this? How could he ever return, as long as_ that man _was alive..._

 _"As long as the wings of hate beat, when will the water ever settle..." He took a step, and another, and the cool water eased the pain in his aching feet. It rose to his knees, to his waist, gentle and welcoming. His clothing, heavy in the water, dragged him down, and he did not fight against. It was just at the last moment, when he still saw the moonlight on the water's surface, when the final desperate thought flashed through his mind._ I want to play more...

.

Hikaru woke up in his bed, gasping for air.


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

The next morning turned into a bright day, but still there was no sign of Akira's father. Last night's dreams still lingering with him, Hikaru wandered around the mansion much like a restless ghost himself, at times stopping to play a game or two with Akira, but even that wasn't anymore enough to distract him. When finally a messenger arrived, advising them that Tadayuki would stay still one day at the palace, but without any other real information, Hikaru could barely conceal his annoyance.

"What's he _doing_ there?" he exclaimed, thankfully when the messenger had left and they were alone again. "It can't take this long! Why don't we go to check what's the matter?"

"You can't go there just like that, especially not now," Akira pointed out.

"But _you_ could, couldn't you? So-"

"If my father had wanted me there, he would have said so," Akira snapped. "So calm down. Fretting like that won't do you any good."

Hikaru bit his lip and said nothing. Instead he marched out, into the garden, and Akira decided it might be best to leave him alone for the time being. He settled down to replay some of their games. An hour or so later he was interrupted by his brother and Seimei.

"Where is he?" Yasunori asked.

"In the garden," Akira said without taking his eyes from the board.

"We didn't see him there."

He shrugged. "Then he's somewhere else."

"Weren't you supposed to keep an eye on him?" Yasunori snapped, and with an annoyed sigh Akira finally tore his attention from the board.

"Fine. I'll find him for you."

He didn't. After a careful search they had to conclude that Hikaru wasn't anywhere in the mansion.

...

In truth, Hikaru hadn't meant to go out, at least not without telling anyone. And when he did, he really didn't mean to go far, just to walk a little to cool his nerves. He simply happened to get lost.

He was standing in a street corner, looking this way and that, flipping a white go stone in his hand, one that Akira had removed from his bowl after seeing that there was a little crack in it. Hikaru thought of _his_ go stones, and the fact Akira had once said that a fancy board wasn't needed for a good game. He had pocketed the stone, secretly, and was planning to add it to his own – well, maybe they'd be Akari's, now. Anyway, it'd be one of the best, among those stones. Now, he threw it into the air, and placed it against the back of his hand. "No crack, left; crack, right," he muttered, and looked at it. Crack. Right he turned.

He walked a while, until he came to the conclusion that the stone probably had guided him wrong. He looked at the sky, wondering in which quarter the sun was – but then again, it hardly helped as he didn't know in which quarter Akira's home was. He sighed and looked back. Perhaps he should just ask for directions. The street was quiet, though. He only saw one carriage rather far away, and it was going away from him.

He remembered he'd heard voices from a garden he had passed, and returned there. The place was surrounded by a thick and high hedge, and he couldn't see in, but there were faint voices coming from there. He stopped, hesitating, and wondered if he should look for a gate. "Excuse me!" he shouted, and the voices fell silent. "I'm sorry to bother you, but... I'm a bit lost. Could you tell me which street this is?"

There was a moment's silence, then he heard the rustling of cloth from the other side. He also thought he heard faint laughter, and frowned.

"Lost?" a voice said. "It is a beautiful day to get lost in this city, isn't it?" The voice, female, was perhaps a little teasing, but still so genuinely cheerful that Hikaru's bad mood tempered a little.

"Maybe," he said. "One could wish for a cooler day, though."

"Ah, yes, this strange weather. It makes one feel as if it were midsummer... as if, high in the skies, larks would still be singing."

She spoke still so lightly, as if she had no worries in the world, and Hikaru smiled a little crookedly. "Or crows, maybe. That would fit my world better."

"Oh? How can that be?"

Hikaru was silent. "Could you just tell me which way the fourth street is?" he then asked quietly.

There was a moment of silence on the other side of the hedge, too. He thought he saw movement through the tiny holes in the hedge, and, perhaps, an eye peeking at him. On the spur of the moment he almost peeked in, too, but luckily realized in time that it might be close to scandalous behavior, especially if it was the lady of the house he was speaking with.

"If you are facing us," the woman said more solemnly, "then the fourth street lies behind your back."

"Thank you." Hikaru bowed a little. Thought of going his way, but didn't, yet. "It _is_ a beautiful day," he said more amiably, perhaps a little apologetically. "I wish it truly were still last summer – that was the happiest time in my life. But... I guess all summers come to an end."

He flipped the stone in his hand again and was about to leave, but the woman's voice stopped him.

"The summer did end," she said quietly, "the little birds are all gone. Only the crow stays. Does he not find any joy in these quiet autumn days?"

To his horror Hikaru realized that this was a Poem. And it required a reply poem from him, did it not?

"I... I..." he stammered, clutching the stone in his suddenly sweaty hand. "Here's all joy I've left," he said in desperation, and flung the stone across the hedge. After a hasty bow he fled from the place.

At least he now knew which way to go. But he really should avoid getting into situations like that in the future. Slowing down, he glanced over his shoulder toward the hedged garden. How would he ever survive among these poetry sprouting weirdos if he truly were adopted among them?

He turned to the direction of the fourth street, and soon found himself in a more familiar area. As he approached Akira's home, he noticed two people at the gate, talking with a servant.

"Hey!" he shouted, starting to run. "Kimihiro! Tetsuo!"

The two turned to look back. "Hey, there you are!" Tetsuo exclaimed. "Do you have any idea how hard it has been to find you?"

"Don't exaggerate, it wasn't that hard," Kimihiro put in. "We saw your mother, and she told us you'd left somewhere with Kamo no Akira, so we just had to figure out where he lives. The only problem was that once we found his private mansion, he wasn't there, but we claimed we've got a message for him and they told us he's at his father's."

"Do you?" Hikaru asked. "Have a message?" he went on when the two gave him blank looks. "Have you found out anything?"

"If we have!" Kimihiro cried out, clearly excited. "We've got a lot to tell!"

"Let's go in, then. I'm sure Akira wants to hear this too. Besides, we can't be talking _here_." Hikaru looked meaningfully at the confused servant, who let them in.

"Where have you been!" Akira burst out the moment he saw Hikaru. "I think you were told not to go anywhere!"

"Well, I..." Hikaru gave him a little embarrassed grin. "Sorry, but I just wanted to get out for a moment. I tried to stay on the quiet streets."

Akira obviously would have wanted to say more, but seeing as they had company he drew a shaky breath and shook his head angrily. "Whatever. Why are they here?"

"They've got information," Hikaru said a little smugly. "Did you really think servants wouldn't gossip?"

Yasunori and Seimei both arrived to the place too, and after short introductions they all sat down.

"So, did you learn something from that pretty kitchen girl of yours?" Hikaru asked.

Tetsuo snorted. "Pretty she might have been, but that's it. Stupid bitch," he muttered under his breath.

"I had more luck," Kimihiro said. "I followed a boy who'd been sent to the market, and helped him there when he happened to have some trouble with a merchant. We walked back together, and though he was really nervous, it was surprisingly easy to get him talk. Or maybe it was just _because_ he was so nervous – I think he really wanted to get it out of his chest, but couldn't talk about it with anyone at home. Actually, he was asking me if I knew a place where they'd need someone like him... apparently he's really not feeling at home at Akitada's, and..."

"That's too bad for him," Hikaru cut him off. "But what did he _tell_ you?"

"Oh. I'm sorry. It hasn't really that much to do with this... this ghost business, but it's still quite important. You see, those two..." he dropped his voice as if someone might have been listening to them, "they've got a plan. Akitada is trying to use his influence at court to get his onmyouji friend a strong position, so that he could, in turn, use his position as a court onmyouji to, well, influence things. In their favor."

"What?" Yasunori breathed. "You mean he would abuse his power for personal gain?"

"Something like that," Kimihiro agreed. "I gather the onmyouji have a pretty strong influence on... well, everything."

"They're planning to use the ghost for their own ends, too, somehow," Tetsuo put in. "But the boy didn't know how."

"That's... that's just..." Yasunori was still puffing. "It can't be true."

"I wouldn't be surprised if it is," Seimei said much more calmly. "You obviously don't know my uncle," he stated as Yasunori gave him a shocked look. "He's only interested in power."

"Those are serious accusations, though," Akira said. "Can we really trust this boy?"

"I trust him," Kimihiro said. "Why would he be lying? And he seemed to be genuinely scared, convinced that staying in such household would bring him bad karma. I promised to find him some other place, away from there."

"We should let father know," Akira mused. "If there's even a small chance it's true..."

"I bet it is!" Hikaru exclaimed. "We're talking about a cheater here. So, are we going?"

"Going?" Akira gave him a surprised look.

"To the palace! To tell your father!"

"Oh. No, we're _not_ going there. I'll send a message to father and ask him to come home right away – or, hmm. Maybe I _should_ go there myself rather than send any messages. But you'll stay here." Hikaru opened his mouth to object, but wasn't given a chance. "You can't go there with a ghost! Not right now, at least. I'll go to get him, and _you_ will wait here. Wait _here_ , do you understand?"

The look on Hikaru's face pronounced a very clear _no_ , but nevertheless, he stayed behind.

...

As Akira arrived at the palace, he was in for a surprise. He didn't find his father there – instead he was told that Kamo no Tadayuki had left a while ago, together with Sugawara no Akitada, Abe no Toshirou and some other onmyouji, to Akitada's mansion. To exorcise a spirit.

"You have certainly heard the rumor, haven't you?" the helpful courtier went on, paying no attention to Akira's dumbfounded look. "Of Fu... of a _ghost_ making the emperor sick? Toshirou-sama said that it's true, that he had managed – can you imagine! – to capture the ghost, but it was too strong for him to exorcise alone. So he asked the court onmyouji for help."

Akira stared a moment at the man, wide-eyed, raised then his sleeve in front of his face to cover his laughter. "They have... gone to Sugawara no Akitada's mansion to exorcise the spirit of Fujiwara no Sai?" he asked, quite amused. "They're in for something of a surprise, too," he muttered, but frowned then. "My father went with them? What kind of a game is he playing... well, nevertheless, thank you for the information."

He left the palace and hurried to Akitada's mansion. There was something of a commotion going on there, and he was able to enter almost unnoticed. Servants were scurrying all over the place, and once he caught a glimpse of Abe no Toshirou, striding, tight-lipped, through a walkway that connected different parts of the mansion. Here and there in the yard stood onmyouji, quite relaxed in strong contrast to the members of the household, and most of them looking very amused.

"Evening, Akira. It's been a while," someone said. Turning to look, he saw one of his father's closest onmyouji friends, Ogata no Seiji.

He nodded in greeting. "Is my father here?" he asked, skipping the pleasantries. Seiji pointed, and he spotted his father standing a little apart from everyone else, and hurried to him.

"What are you doing here?" his father asked after noticing him.

"I could ask you the same," Akira replied in a low voice. "What is this farce about?"

"Oh, it's been quite a show, I can tell you. It seems that poor Toshirou-sama has misplaced both a ghost and his apprentice."

"Has he now?" Akira muttered, shaking his head. "I have new information," he whispered then, and quickly told his father all they had learned from Hikaru's friends.

Tadayuki listened quietly, and his amusement seemed to die away.

"I see," he muttered, sharing a look with his friend Seiji who had been close enough to hear it all. "Perhaps it is time to bring this farce, as you called it, to a finish." He was about to go to look for Akitada, but the master of the mansion had noticed a new guest had arrived, and was already coming to greet Akira with a smile.

"Akira-sama! I'm sorry I didn't welcome you earlier, I didn't see you coming."

Akira nodded his head slightly. "It seems that I always come at a bad time."

Akitada's smile faltered and his eyes darted nervously around the yard.. "Not at all," he muttered. "But, ah, this _is_ a difficult time. Quite unfortunate..." He was mumbling too quietly for Akira to hear the rest of the sentence.

"There are other unfortunate things we should discuss," Tadayuki said quite sternly. "Like, the suicide of someone wrongly accused. And the ghost that has been haunting _you_."

"M-me?" Akitada stammered, and his eyes widened. Having noticed that something was happening, the other onmyouji were beginning to gather around them, and this clearly made him grow even more flustered. "I... I don't understand what you're talking about."

"I think you do." Tadayuki's voice calm and quiet, but still commanding. "There is no use to try to hide anything, anymore. Just tell us everything, what really happened during the game between you and Fujiwara no Sai."

"During that game?" one of the onmyouji asked curiously. "What do you mean?"

" _I_ truly don't know!" Akitada's hands were twitching nervously, his sleeves fluttering, and he was grasping his fan so hard it had to be quite close to breaking. "What is this nonsense about?"

"As it is," Tadayuki said, "there really has been a ghost here, the spirit of Fujiwara no Sai. But he had nothing to do with the emperor's sickness. It is _you_ he was after," his eyes locked with Akitada's, "or, perhaps he wasn't really 'after' anyone. Just attempting to understand your deeds that led to his death."

"He _is_ dead then?" Seiji asked with a raised eyebrow. "But where is the ghost? There certainly isn't one here."

Tadayuki nodded. "Yes, he is dead. I have myself seen – and spoken to – his ghost. As for the whereabouts... well, he's elsewhere. He followed someone away from this place."

"Followed someone?" Akitada blurted out in surprise.

"The boy who was his student."

For a moment Akitada didn't seem to understand. Then rage flashed over his face. "That brat! I should have..." He fell silent, catching himself before he said too much. "Toshirou!" he yelled suddenly, spinning around on his heels. "Where are you! Get out here and tell these people... tell them..."

"What are you yelling there?" came Toshirou's rather annoyed voice from inside. He appeared in a doorway with a deep frown on his face. "Damn that foxy boy," he muttered. "Can't find a trace of him."

"These people," Akitada went on, pointing at Tadayuki with a rather shaky finger, "He... he, he is...talking about that game and that ghost, and, and _saying_ things..."

"What's the matter with you?" Toshirou snapped, coming to the small group. "Saying what things?"

"Mainly that I know the truth," Tadayuki said. "I admit I wasn't yet quite certain whether everything I had heard was true, so I decided to let you proceed with your little show and see what you were up to. But now, having received new information from my son, which fits quite well with what's been going on here, I can't be silent about this any more."

Toshirou blinked. Akitada, on the other hand, stood completely still, pale as a ghost.

"What?" Toshirou finally managed to get out.

"The truth," Tadayuki went on, very quietly. "Of Fujiwara no Sai's suicide, your little expedition to find his body after his spirit came to haunt you, the quick funeral by the Kamo river – and how, even after the funeral, the ghost still remained here. And," he added almost as an afterthought, "the fact it is quite controversial _who_ truly cheated during that famous game."

Still for a moment Akitada stood all rigid. Then he suddenly snapped out of it. "I don't have to listen to trash like this at my own home!" He spun around and sleeves flowing began to march away. "It's obvious no exorcism is happening here tonight, so _please leave_ ," he yet spat over his shoulder.

Tadayuki bowed slightly. "As you wish. But you _will_ have to listen, once you'll be summoned to the court. Both of you," he added with a glance at Toshirou, who stood dumbfounded, as if not quite understanding what was going on.

"This certainly turned into an interesting evening," Seiji muttered as they left from Akitada's mansion. "You couldn't tell us what's going on any earlier?"

"Sorry," Tadayuki replied quietly. "Just wanted to make sure." He shook his head at any further questions. "All will come clear in good time," he simply said, and the group headed back to the palace, where he promptly requested that both Sugawara no Akitada and Abe no Toshirou would be called to the court to explain their actions. Where onmyoudo matters were concerned, Kamo no Tadayuki did have some prestige, and his accusations were taken quite seriously. The most auspicious day for the hearing was decided to be three days from then.

...

"Three days!" Hikaru exclaimed, once they had returned home and told him the news. "Why do we have to wait _three_ _days_?"

"You should be happy the date was set so soon," Akira pointed out. "They could have decided for three months." He was, maybe, exaggerating a little, but the other's impatience was beginning to make him annoyed.

"Three days," Hikaru still muttered. "Whatever. I guess it isn't that long. But what if they do something, now that they know we're on their track?"

"What could they do?" Akira shrugged. "Run away? They've got no choice but to appear at the court. All they can do is to come up with some new lies."

"I guess," Hikaru said again. Then he shot a glare over his shoulder. "Can you at least tell those two to stop following me everywhere?" He pointed an accusing finger toward Seimei and Yasunori. "You could imagine _they_ were ghosts haunting me."

"Just making sure you won't disappear again," Yasunori stated.

"If you're staying here for three days – as I think you should – maybe you should send a message home," Akira said, changing promptly the subject as Hikaru's eyebrows twitched.

"Yeah, you're right," Hikaru said, for a moment forgetting his annoyance. "I should let mom know." A little uncertain how much he should tell her, he simply ordered the messenger to say that he would stay away for at least three days to finish the matter about which he'd told her earlier.

Once the messenger returned having delivered the message, he decided he might as well go to bed even though he doubted he'd be able to fall asleep. On the way, however, Tadayuki stopped him and had him tell him everything over and over again to make sure he hadn't missed anything, apparently quite indifferent of the late hour. He had sent Kimihiro to fetch the servant boy from Akitada's mansion, and once the poor boy arrived, he was subjected to such intense questioning he probably wished he'd never opened his mouth on the matter. When Tadayuki was finished with him, though, he was promised he could stay there if he wanted,and his mood improved a lot. Once Hikaru finally could go to bed after all the interrogation, he had no problem falling asleep at all.

...

The next day passed slowly and a little awkwardly. Uncertain of what to do and unable to settle down, Hikaru kept on wandering around in the quiet rooms, visiting the garden, coming in again – and attempted to ignore the two young onmyouji who were still tagging along after him. There was always go, of course, but his concentration wasn't quite what it should have been for playing against an opponent like Akira.

"You know..." Hikaru said thoughtfully during a game he was losing, "Do you think your father could do it again?"

"Do what again?" Akira asked without raising his eyes from the board. Even if Hikaru wasn't at his best, he wasn't about to play carelessly.

"That... possession thing. So that I could speak with him? I mean, with Sai?"

The hopeful tone made Akira look up, and he met the other boy's gaze. He shook slowly his head. "I'm sorry, but I don't think he would. We can ask him, of course, but I know he doesn't do things like that unless it's absolutely necessary."

"But we can ask him, right?" Hikaru glanced around. "And Sai... he'd want to play with you, I'm sure of that. Maybe we could give him a chance?"

Akira gave a short laugh. "I'm afraid playing go isn't something father would consider 'absolutely necessary.'"

Hikaru sighed. "It just feels so weird... to know that Sai is here, right now, probably watching our game..." He frowned at the board, then dropped a handful of stones on it. "I sure hope he wasn't watching _that_ game!" he muttered angrily. "Let's start another one. This round I'll play better."

He didn't.

"We could do something else," Akira suggested after yet another game that had mainly served to increase Hikaru's agitation. "I could teach you calligraphy. Or... do you play any instrument?"

"What?"

"Every gentleman should master at least one instrument. Flute, or maybe koto, or..."

"I don't play," Hikaru snapped.

"You should," Akira snapped back. "Don't you like music?"

"I like listening to it. Like, when Akari and Akane used to play in the evenings... they're pretty good."

"If they play, why don't you?"

Hikaru shrugged awkwardly. "It's not my thing."

"Come." Akira stood up. "You could try my koto."

Hikaru followed him with a sullen look on his face. It didn't take Akira long to decide that perhaps something else indeed might be a better way to pass time, but Hikaru rejected both calligraphy and poetry without a second thought, and in the end Akira ran out of ideas that wouldn't have been go-related.

The day dragged slowly to the end, and the next day started even slower. Akira wondered if he was the only one beginning to get affected by Hikaru's agitation. His father was mainly not home, and Seimei and Yasunori, always together nowadays although never far away from Hikaru, were clearly absorbed in a world of their own.

In the afternoon heath, he gave up trying to distract Hikaru and headed to the garden, planning to cool his own nerves with some music. He was currently sitting in a shadowy spot, softly fingering his flute, thinking of a new song he had recently heard and trying to remember how it went, when a rather wild-eyed Hikaru rushed out and ran to him.

"Akira!" he yelled. "Help!"

"What is it?" he asked, lowering his flute. He noticed that the boy was holding a letter in one hand and a small branch of a bush in the other, and raised his eyebrows.

"I got this!" Hikaru pushed both the letter and the branch toward him. "What should I do?"

"You got a letter? Who knows you're here?"

"I don't know! I mean, I don't know how, but... it's, it's... help?" he finished a little weakly.

"Oh, I get it. You can't read it, right?"

"Well..." Hikaru looked at the letter as if it were a poisonous snake. "It's written in the syllable writing, so I managed to read it. I think. But what should I _do_?"

Akira gave him a long look. "You've got a letter from a woman? Let me see. Come now," he said, a little annoyed as Hikaru hesitated. "How can I help you if I don't know what it's about?"

Reluctantly, Hikaru finally let go of the letter. He shot an annoyed glance at Seimei and Yasunori who had followed him and were eying the letter with open curiosity. Akira gave them a look as well.

"Leave us alone for a moment, won't you?" He made shooing gestures with the letter. "This is none of your business, anyway." He waited for the two to shuffle away before finally taking a proper look at the letter. His eyebrows rose as he read it.

"The stones were scattered and the game left unfinished, the crow flew away. Just a feather left on grass, now my sleeves are wet with dew," he read it aloud. He looked at Hikaru. "When did _this_ happen?"

"You know, the other day... when I left out without telling you? Somehow, I think I took a wrong turn and got lost, and I asked her way... I don't know how she found out I'm staying here, or _why_ she sent that!" he suddenly exclaimed. "I don't even understand it!"

"As I don't know exactly what passed between you two, I can't be certain of everything," Akira said, eying the letter. "The crow must refer to you, right? And you must have spoken of go, for her to use that imagery. And did you leave something behind? Picking something up from grass, her sleeves got wet with dew – well, wet sleeves are commonly used to refer to crying, you know. Crying because she misses the crow that flew away..." His tone was teasing, but as he saw Hikaru's shocked face he fell silent and cleared his throat a little self-consciously. "So... I guess the question is, how do you want to answer? Are you interested in her?"

" _Interested?_ " Hikaru's eyes bulged as if they were about to drop down.

"Yes. You know, as a mistress, or, possibly, even as a wife? Much depends on her station, though. Who is she?"

"I've no idea," Hikaru admitted miserably.

Akira looked at the letter. "It's a poem of a good quality, and her calligraphy is quite refined, too. Not to mention her choice of paper and ink... she might be a woman worth pursuing."

A somewhat strangled sound escaped Hikaru. "Worth pursuing? Why would I want to pursue her!"

"Come now. Isn't that a little childish reaction? If you're really getting adopted into the Fujiwara clan, you should start thinking about getting your first wife."

Hikaru spluttered a moment. "Are you making fun of me?" he asked then a little bitterly. "First wife? And how many wives do _you_ have, pray tell?"

"Just one, for now," Akira said, and Hikaru's eyes widened.

"You... you're married? Where is she?" He glanced around as if expecting this surprise wife to be hiding behind a tree.

"She lives with her parents. I visit her – well, I guess I should visit her more often. In fact she probably should move to my private mansion some day soon."

Hikaru was speechless. Akira sighed. "Let's talk about that later. We need to reply to this now – is the messenger still waiting?" As Hikaru nodded, he stood up. "We shouldn't keep him waiting too long. I'll write you something that doesn't close any doors but still won't put you under any obligations. That way you'll have time to think about this. Perhaps we can find out who she is, too."

Hikaru remained quiet as he went inside and chose an appropriately colored paper. "Of course, this isn't quite fair," Akira muttered as he started writing the poem. "She'll get a much too good picture of you, with me composing your poems. In the future, you'd better do this yourself. There. Shall I read it to you?"

"Never mind!" Hikaru snapped. "A much too good picture," he muttered under his breath. "Well, _thanks_."

"You're welcome," Akira said a little dryly. "Say, what is the significance of that branch?"

Hikaru threw it a morbid look. "It's from her hedge. We talked through it."

"I see," Akira muttered. He went to the garden and after a moment returned with a branch that had a few red leaves attached to it. After carefully tying the letter to the branch, he gave it to Hikaru. "Here. Take it to the messenger."

Without saying a word, Hikaru took the letter and left. After a short moment he returned without it.

"Do you remember where she lives?" Akira asked.

Hikaru shrugged and sat down next to him. "I'm not sure. I might be able to find there again. But I don't think I want to."

His gruff tone made Akira decide it might be best to change the subject. "Perhaps I really should start teaching you calligraphy," he stated conversationally. "Why don't you write something so that I could see your level?"

Hikaru fell back on the pillows they were sitting on with a great groan.

...

The settled time could, Akira thought, have arrived sooner. At least Hikaru's mysterious lady friend had provided him with some distraction (not to mention amusement) even if she had managed to unsettle Hikaru quite badly. He would have wanted to do some research about her, but his father had told him to wait until everything was over. After all, Hikaru had been unable to show her house on the map, and even if he had been able to retrace his steps, they didn't get a permission to go out. Not for such 'frivolous reasons', as his father put it.

But now, finally, they would be heading to the palace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heheh. No, I'm not setting up any pairings here, just having a bit fun at Hikaru's expense. I wrote that letter scene once just for fun, and back then I didn't even know if I could fit it somehow into the story..
> 
> Oh, and, btw... I was rereading _The World of the Shining Prince_ after writing this chapter, and, in the part where they talk about the lack of privacy – it really must have been hard to keep anything secret in those days, or, rather, in those _houses_ – I came across this: “The word _kaimamiru_ (lit. peeping through the hedge) recurs throughout contemporary literature...” C'mon, Hikaru! Be brave! Be bad! Take a peep! The Shining Prince Genji would, too. xD
> 
> ...and talking about that encounter, I couldn't stop my brain from trying to write some kind of a reply poem. Here we go:
> 
> The days were gloomy  
> I thought joy had flown away.  
> Then, from a garden,  
> came the song of a skylark...  
> has one truly stayed behind? 
> 
> Yep, yep. I think I'd have failed as a Heian lady. Please don't laugh at my “poetry of good quality.” xD (Gah, trying to figure out English syllable count is a pain. “Stayed” has one syllable, right? At least English words are short. Lot easier to write poems like this than in Finnish.)


	13. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter I'm totally using Hikaru's ignorance of the palace to hide _my_ ignorance. Oh yes.

"Here, how do you like this?"

"Huh?" Hikaru sniffed the perfume Akira offered him and sneezed. He was wearing a fancier dress he ever had in his life – one from Akira's closets. The colors, he was assured (not that he cared, but he knew better than to say it aloud) were quite tasteful and up-to-date without being too flamboyant, and the material – well, he could feel the difference. He looked at the perfume, then at Akira. "You mean... that's for _me_?"

"Of course. A good perfume is in every bit as essential as proper dress. Nothing shows the lack of good taste more profound than ignorance of such things. _Surely_ you must know that."

"Well, yeah but..." Hikaru eyed the perfume quite dubiously. "I'm not sure if I like it..."

"That proves it must be fine," Akira concluded, and wasting no more time sprinkled it generously on him. Hikaru sneezed again.

...

Finally they were on their way. The ox carriage proceeded much too slowly to Hikaru's mind, but he bit his tongue and tried to swallow his impatience. He could guess trying to hurry them would not help. As they entered the palace area, the combination of excitement and nervousness he'd been feeling intensified, and soon a whole bunch of butterflies were batting their wings restlessly in his stomach.

There was a new sultry humidity in the weather. Akira peeked at the sky from the carriage's window, and saw it was covered by dark clouds. "I wonder if we'll get thunder," he muttered. "Maybe it would break this heat spell."

Hikaru couldn't have been less interested in the weather. "So," he whispered as they stepped out of the carriage, and, finding his mouth a bit dry, licked his lips, "Do you think all will go well?" On the way Tadayuki had told them that although he, and basically all the other onmyouji as well, did believe they were right with their accusations, Akitada still enjoyed high respect among certain court circles. "Basically because some people just don't want to admit having been wrong," he had stated, but didn't seem to be too worried about it. It did nothing to help Hikaru's nervousness, though.

Akira gave him an amused look. "Why are you whispering? And stop glancing around like that, you look like we were doing something forbidden. Stop worrying and come! We can't be late today."

Akira headed after his father, followed by his brother and Seimei, the two having simply refused to be left behind today. Hikaru walked after them, trying to find his determination as they entered areas where the likes of him had never before had any business. He would _not_ let himself be frightened by some bunch of perfume-drenched fancy pants who imagined they were better than the rest of the world just because they were born higher on the ladder. Grinding his teeth he hurried after his comrades who were beginning to leave him behind. Outside, the first rain drops hit the ground.

A shadow moved in a doorway. "Fujiwara no Hikaru," it said quietly. Startled, Hikaru was about to hurry on, as he didn't have time to start chatting with random strangers right now. Then he stopped and blinked.

"It's you!" he exclaimed. "I didn't recognize you in those clothes! Oh, I... I still haven't paid you, have I..."

The monk waved his hand. "I've told you not to talk about that, boy. Come. Someone wants to speak with you."

"Huh?" Hikaru looked after his companions who had already vanished behind a corner. "I should go..."

"This won't take long. I'll take you where they're going to afterwards. Come now." He made a beckoning gesture, impatient. "You're right, there isn't much time."

Giving in to curiosity, Hikaru hurried after the monk. "Why are you here?" he asked as they briskly walked through empty corridors. "I thought you're just a... that is..."

The monk gave him a quick smile. "I'd rather not be here if I could choose, but there's someone here who at times insists on my services, and I can't really decline. What time I can, I spend at a mountain recluse."

Hikaru would have asked more, but right then they arrived to a small room divided into two with a curtain. "Here," the monk said, and told Hikaru to sit down. The confused boy obeyed, though he was looking at the curtain with a sinking feeling. A curtain like that could most likely mean only one thing: women. He truly hoped this session wouldn't involve any poetry. Perhaps, if he was lucky, it was just someone who didn't want to have his face seen.

"Thank you, Tora," a voice said. "You were a student of Fujiwara no Sai?" it asked then without any introductions.

No such luck. It was clearly a female voice – though Hikaru was greatly surprised at how young it sounded. Clearly younger than he was, just a child.

"Yes... my lady," he replied hesitantly. Who was this girl?

"Why are you here?"

"I?" Hikaru blinked, surprised at the question. "I'm here to avenge Sai," he said after a moment's confusion, deciding to go with the truth.

There was a moment's silence on the other side of the curtain.

"Is it true about the ghost?" the voice asked then, with a curious tone.

Hikaru nodded, but realized then she couldn't see it. "Yes. Sai is..." He paused, uncertain. Would the girl get scared if he told her there was a ghost present?

"Yes?"

He cleared his throat and shot a careful glance at the monk who was standing in the doorway. "He's probably here right now. He has been... following me."

"Oh?" He wouldn't have needed to worry, the voice was excited if anything. "Here? That's brilliant! You said you're avenging him," she went on then more sharply. "How?"

"By letting everyone know the truth, my lady," Hikaru replied solemnly. "That he was greatly wronged."

"How can you be so certain of that?"

"Because I knew him," Hikaru replied without having to stop to think. "I knew him. He'd never do something like that. And I know my opinion doesn't count for much, but we have also gained some evidence on it."

Another silence followed. Then the monk approached them. "I'm sorry, your highness, but we don't have any more time. He should go to join his companions."

Clothes rustled on the other side of the curtain; someone stood up. Hikaru as well got back to his feet.

"I liked him, too," the voice said, sullen. "I'll be cheering for you."

Hikaru bowed. "Thank you, my la... your highness." He could hear that whoever it was he had been speaking with was leaving, and he also turned to go.

He was just about to leave the room, when a quiet voice behind his back stopped him. "I'll be cheering for you, too, crow," someone whispered, and he gave a great start. He turned to stare at the curtain, frozen where he was standing.

"Are you coming?" the monk asked. He was standing in the corridor and most likely hadn't heard the quiet whisper.

"Ye-yeah," he stammered and turned his back to the curtain, still throwing it one startled look as they left. What was that woman doing here?

The monk took him to a hall were many people had assembled. He saw a screen, behind which sat a small figure – the young emperor, he realized and almost stopped to stare. He hadn't ever imagined he'd some day be in the same room with the emperor. Too bad that childhood bet about entering the inner palace wasn't valid anymore, this surely would have got him the prize.

Akitada was currently standing in front of the screen, speaking with great eloquence, the fan waving to emphasize his speech. Hikaru spotted Akira, who was sitting a little apart from the others, and tried to make his way to him unnoticed.

"Hikaru!" Akira hissed as he knelt down next to him. " _Where_ have you been? You can't wander off at a time like this!"

"That monk took me..." Hikaru started to explain, but then he noticed that the monk had disappeared. "There was this lady," he went on, confused, and Akira rolled his eyes.

"Aren't you a ladies' man. One mysterious correspondence isn't enough for you?"

"It was nothing like that!" Hikaru snapped, a little too loud, and Akira hushed him down. His little outburst had made Akitada notice him, though.

"I see the esteemed student of Fujiwara no Sai has condescended to join us!" the man exclaimed, pointing his fan toward Hikaru. "Here we have an excellent example of my late colleague's lack of judgment! This..."

As people's attention wandered to Hikaru, something of a buzz went through the room. "There _is_ a ghost with him!" someone exclaimed, and no one paid any attention to Akitada anymore.

A man of approximately fifty years of age who had been standing by the screen turned also to Hikaru. People fell silent as he approached the boy, who, after being poked into the ribs by Akira, bowed deep.

"This is Fujiwara no Hikaru," he heard Tadayuki saying. "Fujiwara no Sai's student. The ghost is, currently, attached to him."

"The ghost is here now, then?" the man asked.

"Yes," Tadayuki replied. "A few days ago I spoke with the ghost myself, with him working as the medium."

"Who's that?" Hikaru muttered under his breath to Akira as the man turned to the other onmyouji in the room.

"Fujiwara no Tadahira. The regent," Akira whispered back.

"The presence is very strong and clear," one of the onmyouji was currently saying. "There is no doubt about it."

"I have never tried to deny the existence of a ghost," Akitada put in hurriedly. "Remember, we were asking for help to exorcise this very same ghost. I'm hardly an expert in these matters, but I think it goes without saying that a ghost should not be walking upon this earth. We should do something about this right now! It can't be safe for his imperial majesty to be subjected to an otherworldly influence like this."

"There is no evidence that this ghost would wish any harm on anybody," Tadayuki replied calmly. "It is not good to rush things. The matter we should concentrate on is _why_ the ghost is here – what truly happened during your game."

Akitada snorted. "Everyone knows what happened. The more skilled player won. I can hardly be hold accountable for whatever drastic and overly dramatic measures my opponent took after the game."

"You still deny having cheated, then?" Tadayuki asked, and Akitada's mouth pursed in anger.

"Strongly! I can't believe you are still making these absurd accusations. I must point out that _I_ haven't yet a single time mentioned what _I_ saw happening during that game, out of respect to our previous emperor. Nevertheless, if someone cheated during that game, it wasn't me."

Hikaru twitched, about to spring on his feet and state his opinion on the matter, quite infuriated, but Akira's hand on his arm kept him down. As his enraged eyes were fixed on Akitada, he didn't notice how one more noble entered the room and remained quietly in the background to follow the discussion.

"As I said, I have spoken with the ghost about this matter," Tadayuki said. "If you wish, I can arrange for another session in which you can yourself hear what he has to say."

"And what would that prove!" Akitada exclaimed. "We all know what _the_ _ghost_ is going to say. He would hardly testify against himself, would he?"

Hikaru's anger brimmed over. "Are you calling Sai a liar, then?" he cried out, jumping up and ignoring Akira's quick "hush!"

Akitada turned slowly around to face him, as he kept on glaring daggers at the man. "But what else can one call a man who speaks of things that didn't happen?" he asked softly, and Hikaru bristled even more.

"If Sai says he saw something happen, then it did happen!"

A small, mocking smile tucked Akitada's lips. "Isn't it nice..." he started to say, but Tadayuki cut him off, seeing it best to stop _this_ discussion before it would get completely out of hand.

"The stars as well speak of an injustice committed," he said. "Something bad happened on the day of your game, and it isn't yet settled." His statement was quite nicely punctuated by a distant roll of thunder.

Akitada spread his arms, unaffected by it. "I do not understand these things. If you wish to speak of onmyou matters, speak with my friend; perhaps he can explain them to me, too." He glanced at Abe no Toshirou, who was standing by his side remarkably silent and obviously quite ill at ease. "I simply know what I have done and what I haven't. And it would seem to me you don't truly have any evidence to support your accusations."

"I remember that game," someone put in. Looking across the room, Hikaru was surprised to see the brothers Akira had brought to the meeting at _The Peacock_. "I memorized it to show it to my brother," Yoshitaka went on, "and it is clear that it's you, not Sai-sama, who had one extra prisoner in the end."

"W-what nonsense is that!" Akitada stammered, clearly taken aback by this new support his opponents received. "I don't wish to offer you any offense, but surely... a long and complicated game like that... how can you be so certain you remember it correctly?"

"I can replay the game if you wish," Yoshitaka said, unruffled, "and perhaps you can show me which part I remember wrongly."

"Nonsense!" Akitada repeated, attempting to regain his cool. "There is certainly no need for that. Please, my lord," he turned to the regent who had been following the exchange with undivided attention. "Surely you see how all these accusations against us are nothing but empty slander? There is no substance behind them, nothing."

"There is also the matter of your proceedings with this ghost," the regent stated. "You did claim it was behind the emperor's sickness." His eyes fell on Toshirou, who shifted nervously.

"I admit I might have been mistaken on this account," the man said. "But the timing of this ghost's appearance was so convenient with his majesty's sickness that I couldn't pass the possibility."

"And what of the other things we've been hearing?" one of the onmyouji asked. "Of how you longed for a position at the court for the power it would place into your hands, ready to abuse it?"

"Nothing but slander!" Akitada exclaimed. "I ask you, what is the source of this accusation? A lowly servant brat who could be bribed to say anything for one good meal!" His eyes traveled across the room and stopped on Hikaru, narrowing into small, mean slits. "Not much unlike this student of my late colleague," he went on. "Standing here on the pretense of the Fujiwara name! Say, boy, what right do you have to that name?"

Hikaru gave a little start. "Well, that is... maybe I don't yet, but..."

"Nothing!" Akitada yelled, not letting him finish. "Nothing at all. This so-called Fujiwara no Hikaru is but a commoner dressed in fancy clothes. I cannot believe the likes of him to be let into the presence of our emperor, not to mention to accuse their superiors with such rude terms. He should be..."

"Come now," a new voice cut him off. "Don't be so hard on my son."

"What?" Akitada spun around, eyes wide. "Your... son?"

"My adopted son, to be exact, but son nevertheless." The man who had arrived at the place on the quiet was now walking into the middle of the room.

The regent gave him a short nod. "Fujiwara no Kouyou. I was wondering how long you would just listen."

"I didn't want to interrupt such an interesting discussion," Kouyou stated a little dryly. He looked at Hikaru who was staring at him with his mouth hanging slightly open, and greeted him with a nod. "I see you've been busy."

"I...I... didn't know you were coming?" Hikaru blinked, trying to get over his surprise. "Did you get the message?"

Kouyou nodded. "I was already on my way here when I encountered the messenger."

He looked Hikaru into the eyes for a moment, and the boy was startled to see how much older the man seemed. For a moment he saw something tired in his eyes, but it was soon covered under steel as Kouyou turned to look at Akitada.

"I have never liked this capital of ours much," he said quietly. "All the beauty and splendor that disguise the most brutal of beasts."

Meeting his eyes, Akitada seemed to shrink and took an involuntary step back. He glanced at his comrade, but Toshirou was standing quietly with a sullen expression on his face, and wasn't of any help.

"I'm sorry for your loss," Akitada said, finally managing to compose himself again. He glanced at Hikaru and looked like wanting to say more, but fell silent.

"I'm sure you are," Kouyou simply stated without even glancing at him. Instead he looked at the regent. "So, what is the situation?"

The regent gave a sigh. "Difficult," he admitted with a glance at Tadayuki and his onmyouji friends who were standing around him. "These accusations do have a certain weight, but..." He shook his head.

Hikaru sighed inwardly. He had _known_ it couldn't be this easy. His eyes wandered across the room, stopping on different people, as he desperately tried to come up with something decisive. His eyes stopped at the young emperor behind his screen, and an annoyed frown passed on his face. Young he might be, but still the emperor. Why didn't he say anything?

Then he noticed how another figure moved behind the screen; a woman, was it, or at least it was wearing no hat. It approached the emperor, knelt by his side and seemed to say something. A moment passed, and the other figure retreated again. Hikaru glanced t the other people in the room, realizing they were so absorbed in their debate that he was likely the only one having noticed anything.

He was just telling himself that it was nothing, just some passing servant, but then a young voice cut over the now quite heated discussion in the room, calling for the regent.

Silence fell in an instant, and the regent approached the screen. "Your majesty?"

"This is an unseemly matter, and it shouldn't be prolonged," the emperor went on, and Hikaru was startled at how very young he sounded. Of course, he known the emperor was a child, but this young? Even younger than the girl he had spoken with earlier. "Let them play."

"Your majesty?" Even the regent seemed a little confused.

"Let them play," the emperor said again. "Sugawara no Akitada and Fujiwara no Sai's student. Let the gods of go decide on this matter."

There was a moment's silence, broken by a weird sound from Akitada – it might have been a suppressed burst of laughter.

"Great wisdom from our young emperor!" he exclaimed. "I accept this gladly." He turned to look at Hikaru. "How about you?"

The boy stood frozen, mouth opening and closing in shock.

"Why not have Sai play?" Seimei whispered to Tadayuki, loud enough for others to hear.

He nodded slowly. "I could arrange this."

Akitada's eyes widened with what could have been genuine horror. "You'd have me play against a _ghost_? Would that even be a fair game? Who knows what otherworldly skills he might possess!" He looked at Hikaru,tilting his head. "You were the one his majesty named, so you are the one who should play. Or are you afraid?"

"Afraid of _you_?" Hikaru snapped. "Dream on! I accept." Hearing the words pass his own lips he closed his eyes with a soundless curse.

"Prepare for the game, then," the emperor declared.

Servants scurried off to fetch a go board, while Hikaru turned to his companions in desperation.

"He's really good!" he whispered. "I never won a single game against Sai, but this guy did play on a par with him! I don't stand a chance..."

"I'm afraid you might be right," Akira muttered. "I know your skill, which is great, but based on that game which _he_ played against your teacher... I don't think that skill is enough."

Hikaru hung his head with a great sigh, but then Tadayuki placed his hand on his shoulder. "Seimei had a further suggestion," he muttered, and steered the boy to the side. He glanced at his onmyouji friends. "Would you look elsewhere a moment?" he asked with a wry smile. "And please distract Abe no Toshirou."

The onmyouji shared some confused looks, but Ogata no Seiji who stood among them returned Tadayuki's smile, clearly guessing what he was up to, and approached Toshirou, who was watching the proceedings quite gloomily.

"I'm afraid things don't look too sunny for you," they heard him saying as he arrived to the glum man. "No matter how things proceed here, you won't be able to enter our circles."

"What are you doing?" Hikaru asked, but instead of replying, Tadayuki started mumbling some kind of an incantation, waving his hand in front of Hikaru's eyes.

"There," he muttered. "That was easy."

"What was easy?" Hikaru asked, confused, and then almost fell flat down out of sheer astonishment. "Sai!" he exclaimed, and Tadayuki hushed him quickly.

"Stay quiet, now! Do you see him well?"

"I... I..." Hikaru stammered, staring at the image of his teacher that wavered and shimmered in the air. "Well enough," he whispered, voice getting stuck in his throat.

"Let him play," Tadayuki whispered. "He can show you where to move."

Hikaru nodded slowly, still not quite comprehending it. Now, the go board had been set ready, and Akitada was already sitting down by it. The servants were moving some walls, too, arranging a screened place for some women to follow the game as well.

Hikaru walked to the board, feeling quite lightheaded. He would have liked to have a moment to grow used to this; now, he barely dared to look at that familiar face, afraid that the sight would be too much for him. As he sat down, he finally raised his gaze, though, looking slowly and long into the eyes that had so often watched him over a go board. There was a quiet smile on Sai's lips as he returned his gaze, a smile he remembered so well, and taking a deep breath he nodded slightly and turned to face Akitada. Outside, the thunderstorm hit the city with full strength.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Touya Meijin is Sai's father. Is that weird? Maybe. But... there is this Japanese PlayStation game which takes place in the Heian era, and in it he's Sai's father. I found out about that game completely accidentally, I was googling for some Heian stuff and came across Lucathia Rykatu's post on LJ about it. (With very nice pictures.) That post was very inspirational for me also otherwise, as in that game Akira belongs to the Kamo clan. And once I realized that (in real life) Kamo no Tadayuki was Abe no Seimei's teacher... well. Everything just fit. [Here](http://lucathia-rykatu.livejournal.com/138397.html)'s that post.
> 
> And... some random nitpicking about the emperor's age. Wikipedia says he acceded to the throne in 930 when he was eight years old. _But_... wikipedia also says he was born in 923... in which case he _can't_ have been eight in 930. I wonder if this is because of the funny way they counted age during the Heian times – they didn't really count the years you had lived but the years when you were alive. In other words, a newborn baby was one-year-old. If a baby was born in the end of the year, it would still be said to be two years old as the year changed, even if it really would have been two _weeks_ old. By this method, Suzaku would have been eight in 930. Anyway, if the emperor was born on July 24, 923 as wikipedia claims, he was 7 years ~3 months at this time.
> 
> Re: the perfume... I really feel for the people who lived in the Heian period and were asthmatic.  
> And… this is something I realized only much later, after having posted this chapter, but apparently they just perfumed the clothes, so Akira didn’t have any need to sprinkle anything on Hikaru… but, whatever. Decided to leave the scene as it is.
> 
> ETA: After writing the prequel I wanted to add a couple things here: for one, yes, the monk (Torajirou!) is the same as shortly appeared in the prequel, and two, the regent is, in the case you've forgotten, Nobunori's father, and no, I don't know where Nobunori himself is. Perhaps he's sick, or afraid of Sai's ghost. But, you know, he didn't exist back when I wrote this fic, so he can't be there...


	14. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Once everyone had settled down, the silence in the room was almost tangible; the only sounds were the constant, hard rain and the occasional thunder claps. Hikaru looked at his opponent across the go board. Akitada wasn't watching him, instead his eyes were already on the board and he was softly fingering the stones in his bowl, eagerly anticipating the game. As if sensing the boy's gaze he looked up, and as he met Hikaru's eyes, a small smile, or maybe rather a sneer, passed on his face.

Hikaru looked down, lips a tight line. Akitada clearly didn't think him to be much of an opponent. He most likely couldn't believe someone of the common origin truly could play – and in the end, he was just Sai's student, not Sai himself. It was hardly surprising if the man thought he was in for an easy win.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm his nerves and suppress the surge of anger he felt, waiting for the game to begin. Then, out of nowhere the monk suddenly appeared again by his side. Hikaru looked up at him with a start.

"Sent to you for victory," the monk said quietly and pressed a small object to his hand. A white go stone, a little cracked. Hikaru closed his eyes with an inward groan. Certainly sent with good intentions, for encouragement, but the last thing he right now needed was to be reminded of this certain lady. He shouldn't have let Akira write that letter...

The monk retreated, with an annoyed glance from Akitada. He obviously didn't recognize the monk, but in the audience Toshirou gave a start.

Hikaru shot a glance after the monk, and was startled to see him sitting down close to the screen among some court ladies. He stared, eyes possibly bulging a little, at his first view of women of the higher classes, their colorful clothes, high painted eyebrows and hair that flowed down to the floor as they sat. He glanced at the screen, wondering why it was there if the women weren't using it, but seeing the tiny figure behind it he remembered the girl the monk had addressed as 'your highness' and guessed it was for her. His eyes wondered back to the women, but seeing them whispering to each other and laughing behind their fans he quickly turned back to the board, face flushing.

"Begin the game," the emperor declared, and the opponents bowed at each other. Akitada, playing black again, placed the first stone on the board.

Hikaru closed his eyes, attempting to clear his mind of anything and everything except the opponent who was facing him and the game that had just started. His fingers closed on the cracked stone in his hand. Slowly he raised it, eyes on the board. He could feel the contempt with which his opponent watched him, and he knew it was foolish, there was so much at stake here... but still... _he_ was the one who had been challenged here, after all...

"Sai..." His lips formed the name, soundless. He looked up, and the ghost smiled at him, nodded.

Go ahead.

With a loud snap he played his first move.

...

Akira was following the game with a frown. Although they hadn't yet played many moves, it was clearly a game between two excellent players. Still, it didn't quite reach the levels he had been expecting. Perhaps it wasn't surprising in Akitada's case; he most likely didn't think he'd have to exert himself in a game like this. But white's play, even though it was solid and flawless, didn't quite have the brilliancy he remembered from the previous game between these two.

"He's playing by himself," he heard Seimei mutter quietly. He suppressed a start, realizing what that meant. His initial reaction was that of frustration. Why? He shot a glare at the boy who was bent over the board with a tiny frown on his face. Why take such a chance? But as the game progressed, the annoyance died away. Watching Hikaru's unbreakable concentration as he stone by stone strove to wipe that sneer from Akitada's face he could easily understand why. Which didn't mean he wouldn't give the boy a piece of his mind once the game was over, no matter how it ended.

...

The upper left was going to be a problem, he made a note of that in the back of his mind. Not an insuperable one, hopefully, and as long as he kept control of the center, even losing that corner wouldn't hurt too much. Now, it was the upper right he was concentrating on. If he could get Akitada lured in there, that just might decide the game. The man was clearly underestimating him, so it shouldn't be too difficult.

He played a stone, deliberately leaving an inviting opening. Akitada took it, and he played his next move, ensuring that black wouldn't be able to escape. A handful of moves would make this corner solidly his territory.

Akitada didn't even stop to think. He placed his stone on the board with a sharp snap and sat back, unruffled. Hikaru had already grasped his next stone, but his hand stopped, hovering in midair, as he stared down at the board, not wanting to believe his eyes.

...

Akira was crunching his fan so hard it was close to breaking. _Didn't you see that?_ he wanted to yell. _How could you_ not _see that?_ Oh, he would yet yell that, later, once they'd be somewhere in private.

...

Hands lowered to his lap Hikaru sat staring at that single black stone, which suddenly, out of nowhere, was threatening his central stones in the corner. His mind raced, going through all the possible variations the game could proceed here, and always arriving at the same conclusion: those stones were lost. How had he missed that move? It was so obvious, now that he faced it. Perhaps Akitada wasn't the only one underestimating his opponent. When had he forgotten it was Sai's rival he was playing with? Would _Sai_ have fallen for that trap he'd prepared? Hardly. He should have been more careful there.

With a quiet breath he gave in to the inevitable and abandoned those stones, turning his attention elsewhere. The upper left had suddenly become vital.

...

Akira was still grasping his fan hands buried into the layers of his sleeves in an attempt to keep himself from gnawing his nails. After that one mistake, he had been afraid Hikaru would lose his composure and the game would be lost, but it seemed to have had an opposite effect on the boy. The way Hikaru was playing now, Akira didn't think _he_ would have been able to do much – but then again, he wasn't Akitada.

But he couldn't help noticing how the way Akitada was watching his opponent had changed. There was still anger in his eyes, or pure hate, rather, but even that was different from before. Earlier, his hatred had been drenched in disdain, but now... Akira could well imagine how he had once watched Fujiwara no Sai with that same look. He had clearly come to realize that this was a game he might still lose, unless he took it seriously.

Which couldn't be good for Hikaru. He was putting up a great fight in the upper corner, but the left side was otherwise strongly in Akitada's control. If he lost there, he would have just the center and maybe the lower right, and that wouldn't be enough.

...

At that moment Hikaru had completely forgotten the existence of their audience, but his thoughts were following quite a similar track to Akira's. There had to be a way to life in that upper left corner. He couldn't afford losing that many stones... at that point, there would be no other choice but to resign. And those words he wouldn't get out of his mouth, not without choking.

There simply was nothing else to do but to find a path to life. There must be one, he was certain of it, but try as he might he couldn't see it. Twiddling a white stone in his hands he stared at the board, willing for a way to appear, but in vain. The wall of the black stones was solid and unbreakable, and he couldn't find the smallest crack where to make his attack.

_Sai_ , he thought, closing his eyes, unwilling to look at the presence he felt next to him. _I'm sorry, I can't make it_... _You shouldn't have let me play, it's not about me, it's all about you, and now I'm messing it up_... _such a stupid,_ _selfish thing_...

He felt tears brimming in his eyes and fought to hold them back. It took him a moment to regain his calm – he was taking too long, he knew it. He should make a move soon. He opened his eyes, fingers squeezing a stone, wanting more than anything to find the move that would save the game – and as he looked down at the board, there was a ghostly vision of a fan upon it, pointing at a certain intersection. He blinked, and the vision disappeared, but his eyes were still locked to that one point. _Sai?_ _There? Why there?_ As Hikaru glanced up, he saw Sai watching the board with that same tiny smile he remembered a little too well from all the games in which he'd just been about to receive a crushing defeat.

Still not understanding, he played the stone. Someone in the audience drew a sharp breath.

...

Akira frowned. What kind of a move was that? He couldn't see what help it would bring to this situation – a lone white stone, apart from it all. He looked sharply at Hikaru. Did the boy have a plan? There was a strange look of confusion even on his face. But...

He glanced over his shoulder at Fujiwara no Kouyou. What had _he_ seen in that move, to be so startled?

...

Akitada didn't seem to think much of that move, either. He played his next stone soon, after giving a short frown at Hikaru's strange move. And then, suddenly, it all became clear to the boy. Eyes slightly wide, he took his next stone, and placed it on the board. Looking up he met Sai's gaze, and the ghost gave him a tiny nod and a smile which he returned.

Akitada frowned again, but didn't seem to realize what was going on. He played as he had planned to, and Hikaru resisted the urge to grin. This game... it could still be his. No, _theirs_ , he thought with another glance at Sai.

...

By now, Akira's eyes were wide as well. He couldn't believe that move, in all its simplicity. The path was there, right there, and Akitada had missed his chance to cut it. Now, the man as well had realized this, and he was staring at the board with an almost comical expression of surprise.

"What is it?" Seimei whispered, catching on that something was happening but unable to read the game so deeply. "What's going on?"

Akira swallowed. "He just might yet win this," he whispered back with a surge of excitement.

...

A loud clap of thunder made the audience jump, and even Akitada, who had been about to place a stone on the board, looked around with a start, paling a little. There were the sounds of servants running somewhere, wondering where the lightning had hit. Hikaru was the only one who remained oblivious to it all. His attention was complete on the board.

It wasn't over yet. With renewed determination, he played his move, reading the game carefully. He was leading with a few moku, but he couldn't afford a single mistake, Akitada was breathing down his neck with every move he made. They had moved to the right side, where the upper corner was lost to him, but he could still keep his own in the rest. A _ko_ situation developed there, and winning it, he gained yet two moku more.

The game entered _yose,_ and he could see from the red spots on Akitada's cheeks that the man as well knew he'd be losing at this rate. His only hope was for Hikaru to make a mistake, but the boy didn't let his attention flag. He placed the last stone on the board, and the game ended.

One could have heard a feather drop in the silence of the hall.

"Did he win?" Seimei whispered then, eagerly.

"Yes," Akira breathed. "By... three moku, I think."

The sound of their voices started the murmuring. Hikaru was declared the winner of the game. The boy stood up, lightheaded. The adrenaline of the game was still rushing through him as he looked at his beaten opponent. Akitada was still sitting by the go board, mouth quivering a little as if he wanted to say something, to object, but didn't know how.

"You still don't confess?" Hikaru couldn't resist saying. "You couldn't have won against Sai, not without cheating."

Akitada looked up, face seething with rage. "Like teacher like student," he hissed between his teeth. "I should have got rid of you too that night at the river! You could have shared a grave with your beloved teacher." He stood up, sleeves flapping around him with an angry _swap_.

"That's enough," the regent said strictly. "You agreed to let this matter be decided by this game, and you lost it."

"But what does that prove?" Akitada exclaimed in a final desperate attempt. "Can we truly decide who is right or wrong based on a _game_? All it shows is... is..." His voice trailed off, unwilling to say it aloud.

"All it shows is who is the better player," Akira completed the sentence for him, not noticing Hikaru's small embarrassed wince.

The glare Akitada shot them should have been enough to kill.

"You were happy to agree to this game," the regent repeated. "It is too late to make such objections now. It's time for you – and your friend – to leave." He gave Toshirou a short glance.

"But, my lord regent," the onmyouji cried out, "I assure you I haven't done anything wrong here. I've simply attempted to assist my friend who was haunted by a ghost. And as I was afraid the same ghost might have done other mischief, too..."

"You didn't seem to be of much help to your friend," Seiji stated from his place among the court onmyouji. "And if you truly believed this ghost to be behind the emperor's illness, your skill leaves much to be desired."

There were agreeing noises, and Toshirou fell silent.

"You played an excellent game, Fujiwara no Hikaru," came the emperor's young voice from behind the screen. One couldn't help noticing how delighted he sounded. "And I seem to have an open position for a go teacher, as it is."

Akitada twitched, but said nothing. Hikaru blinked. "I... I'm honored, your majesty," he said with a deep bow. "But you... I'm afraid you overestimate me."

"Everyone agrees you played brilliantly," the emperor insisted. "Especially that one move."

Hikaru winced. Hesitated. "Well, in truth, your majesty... I think I got that move from Sai," he admitted.

"Ha!" Akitada exclaimed. "Now who's the cheater? Getting outside help!"

"This should have been Sai's game," Hikaru said quietly. "A game played between you two, without anyone cheating. It could have been an incredible game, one like which has never before been played, but you... you had to ruin it. And now... I stole the game for myself... At least that one move gave everyone a glimpse of what kind of a game it could have been."

Akitada opened his mouth to say something, but the emperor's voice cut him off.

"I'm growing tired of this. You two were already told to leave." As Akitada still attempted to protest, he jumped angrily up from his seat and walked to the screen. " _I_ never believed Fujiwara no Sai cheated. Never! Get out of here!"

After such a blatant command, Akitada and Toshirou hardly had any choice. Bowing deeply, they started to make their way out of the room. Toshirou still stopped to shot a mean look at Seimei.

"What is this, boy?" he asked. "Firs you disappear for days, and now you won't follow your teacher?"

"He isn't your apprentice anymore," Tadayuki answered in the boy's stead. "His mother has approached me and asked me to take him as one of my students. Which I am happy to do."

"But..." A startled look spread on Toshirou's face. "I... my brother..."

"Probably isn't too happy with you at the moment," Tadayuki murmured. Unable to reply anything Toshirou turned and followed his friend out.

"This matter is hardly closed yet," the regent said to Fujiwara no Kouyou. "There are many things to consider... I've heard of the somewhat... unorthodox burial of your son, not to mention..." He glanced around. "Is the ghost still present?"

All the onmyouji (and Hikaru as well) nodded.

"Something must be done about this, too," the regent went on grimly. "But I believe these matters are best left into the hands of those with more understanding of spiritual matters." He looked at the onmyouji and the monk.

"We shall restore his position," the emperor declared. "And promote him to... third rank?" He sounded a little uncertain, probably forgetting exactly what rank Sai had held. "And I want it known that he was always my favorite."

Behind the other screen someone snapped her fan shut quite loudly.

"And my wife's, too," the emperor added hurriedly.

Hikaru blinked. There was something off, in his mind, with a child this young to be speaking about his wife. But this got him thinking. Could it be that the girl he had met... the monk had called her 'your highness.' Could she be...? And if she was, did that mean that this mysterious lady of his was one of the emperor's wife's ladies-in-waiting? He almost glanced at the women who were still sitting by the screen, but fixed his eyes firmly onward.

"I'll order prayers to be read at different temples," the monk was saying. "Perhaps you can somehow attempt to convince him to leave, now that his adversary has been banished from the court."

Tadayuki nodded and looked at his onmyouji friends. "We'll start at once, with your permission," he said with a look to the regent.

"Does he have to go?" the emperor asked, wistful. "Couldn't he stay, at least a short while? I'd like to play with him again."

_Yes, yes_. Hikaru was nodding eagerly, even though he knew what the answer would be.

"I am sorry, your majesty," Tadayuki said. "A ghost does not belong to this world."

Hikaru sighed and was about to turn to Akira when he saw someone else approaching him. One of the women came to a stop in front of him and bowed her head slightly. "My lady wishes to offer her compliments for a game well played," she said.

Hikaru blinked. Felt Akira's hand push his back, and bowed. Blinked again. "I... um, thanks, that is..."

"My friend is deeply moved by your mistress's kindness," Akira came to his rescue. "But he is also still quite overwhelmed by this extraordinary game. Please give him a moment to recover."

A small smile tugged the woman's lips. "He is easily overwhelmed, no?" But she bowed her head again and returned to the screen. Akira guided Hikaru away, to a quieter part of the room.

"Don't tell me it's her..."

"Sure is," Hikaru muttered. He shuddered. "That eyebrow thing is _freaky_. Why do they do that?"

"Shh! Stop talking nonsense." Akira shook his head. "You sure aim high..."

"I'm not aiming anywhere!" Hikaru exclaimed, and after Akira shushed him again went on more quietly, "Is it my fault she's fixated on me? Who is she, anyway?"

"Her name's lady Asumi. She's..." He was cut off by Shinichirou and Yoshitaka who came to offer them congratulations for the victory.

"Brilliant playing!" Yoshitaka exclaimed, pounding Hikaru on the back. "In the latter half of the game you were obviously way above him."

"The beginning wasn't too great, though," Shinichirou put in. "Did you really think he'd fall for that trap?"

"Hear, hear," Akira muttered throwing Hikaru a dark look. They didn't have time to start an argument, though, as they were joined by a group of other court nobles, and it took all Akira's creativity to steer Hikaru clear among all the compliments and even some poetry.

Gradually, though, almost everyone left the place: the court nobles, including Shinichirou and Yoshitaka, who still gave them victorious smiles before leaving; the ladies, luckily without any further complications; and the emperor himself, even though he clearly would have liked to stay. Hikaru remained behind, as Sai was still strictly following him, and Akira stayed with him. They had sat down in a corner of the room, waiting for the onmyouji to come into an agreement of what to do. Tadayuki was currently explaining something to the regent and Fujiwara no Kouyou, who both listened very intently.

"I didn't quite imagine things to go like this," Hikaru muttered to Akira, who shook his head.

"But everything turned out quite well in the end."

"I guess." Hikaru sounded doubtful. "He's still dead. Those two... maybe they lost whatever power they had, but... still. Sai's dead, and now they're going to make him leave for good."

"Like you just said, he _is_ dead," Akira pointed out. "Maybe it's not fair, but it can't be helped."

Hikaru wasn't listening to him. "I got an idea!" He jumped up suddenly, startling his friend. "They didn't yet take the go board away." He rushed to get it.

"You want to play a game?" Akira asked, a little confused.

"Nope." Hikaru grinned at him, coming back with the board. "I thought you might. With Sai. I still see him, you know," he added at Akira's astonished look.

"I... yes!" Akira breathed. "That is, if he's willing."

"Oh, he seems to be quite excited about it." Hikaru grinned again. "And I kinda owe him, taking over his game like that. But try to be quick, who knows how long we've got."

They started the game, with Hikaru placing Sai's stones where he pointed. It was, without doubt, one of the best games Akira had played, even though he saw from the beginning that he couldn't do much against this opponent. At his level, Sai could have played a teaching game with him, but chose not to. And that was what Akira wanted – if this was to be their only game, it couldn't be wasted. He went all out against his opponent, fighting to the end, always managing to find a way to keep the game going, but still not once did he take the lead during the game and when it was over the winner was quite clear.

Only when they were cleaning the stones away did they notice that Fujiwara no Kouyou had came to follow the game, sitting quietly by the go board.

"A fine game," Kouyou said looking Akira levelly into eyes.

"Thank you," he replied with a slight bow. "And... my condolences."

Kouyou nodded, wordless. "It was... him playing, wasn't it?" he asked quietly looking down at the board. "I wish..." He shook his head, cutting off the sentence. "No matter. There is no time. Once this is over," he said to Hikaru, "you should come to my city mansion. We have much to talk."

"Sure." Hikaru nodded.

Now, the onmyouji were approaching them with the regent in the lead, so they all stood up.

"It's time, huh..." Hikaru muttered. He looked at Sai, who stood behind him. The ghost returned his gaze, nodded once, a little sadly, and closed his eyes.

"It has been decided..." the regent started to say, but startled voices cut him off.

"Sai!" Hikaru as well exclaimed, seeing how faint shimmering spread across the ghost, turning gradually brighter and brighter. For a blink of an eye Sai shone like a star, then he was gone.

There was a moment's stunned silence. "If he was anyway going to leave like that," Seimei puffed then, "he could have let us know so we'd have spared some trouble."

It still took a while before they could take their leave. There were long spells and incantationsrecited to ensure that the ghost truly had left and wasn't lingering somewhere in the palace. Fujiwara no Kouyou spoke a while with the regent about the posthumous promotion of his son – even though it clearly wasn't a matter about which he cared too much – and other things concerning his untimely death. Hikaru and Akira hovered in the background, wondering if it'd be alright for them to start a game of their own to pass time.

When they were finally leaving from the palace, Hikaru couldn't hold back a great yawn.

"Oh, by the way, congratulations on you adoption," Akira muttered as they were descending down the steps from the great audience hall. The thunderstorm was over, and the edges of the dark dispersing clouds were colored golden and deep red by the setting sun.

"Yeah, that..." Hikaru glanced at Fujiwara no Kouyou. "I guess he really has to make it official now?" he whispered to Akira.

"What do you mean? He just did, by stating it in the presence of so many witnesses. Including the emperor."

"Oh." Hikaru thought about it a moment. "Wow. So I really am a Fujiwara now, eh?"

Akira nodded. "No one can deny it anymore. So, what are you going to do now?"

"Me?" Hikaru blinked. "I don't have the faintest idea."

"Will you stay here? Or will you follow your new father to Kawachi? You could probably enter the university, if you wanted to. And there is that lady friend of yours to consider, too."

"Don't call her my lady friend!" Hikaru snapped. "Gods..." He sighed. "I think I'll have to send her a letter and explain everything. And I'll do it myself. Though I guess I might need a bit help with it..."

Akira gave a little laugh. "If she's after that still willing to continue correspondence with you, you really must not let her go – and do be careful with that fan! It's mine, remember, and I like it, and I'd rather not have you break it, especially not on my head."

"Consider your words, then," Hikaru stated with one more whack toward his friend which Akira repelled with his own fan.

"If you want my – I admit – somewhat selfish opinion," Akira said after a while, when they were about to climb into their carriages – he together with his family and Hikaru with his new adoptive father, "I'd rather you stayed here. So that we could play."

"You've got a point there," Hikaru admitted.

Tadayuki sighed, and leaned out of the carriage. "For the peace of this city, I am inclined to wish that you _won't_ stay here, then."

Akira shot him a little embarrassed glance. "Father, please. We're not that bad."

Tadayuki simply shook his head and sat back down.

Hikaru grinned. "Well, even if I go, it won't be for good. We'll get to play a lot."

Akira nodded, and with wishes of good night they mounted their carriages. He still stopped to glance behind. "That reminded me... we need to talk about today's game. I've got some things to say."

"I bet!" Hikaru yelled, peeking out of his carriage. "You always have things to say!"

"Mainly considering some selfish actions and stupid mistakes," Akira went on, as Tadayuki gave a sign for their carriage to leave.

"As usual!" he still heard Hikaru's voice. "Why is it you only see my mistakes? As if you never made any!"

"Not the kind you..." Akira started to yell back, but this time he received a whack from his father's fan.

"Please finish this discussion some other time. And preferably not in my house."

Akira sat back with a sigh. Well, whether Hikaru chose to leave the capital or not, he'd be there still at least a few days. They'd have time for that discussion, and a game or two as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you're not too disappointed that Hikaru didn't, in the end, beat Akitada on his own. :/ I wanted to have it that way, but somehow it just didn't work out in the end, in my mind. I just don't think Hikaru's good enough here.
> 
> Mmm... Akitada once said he doesn't like teaching children. Perhaps children don't like being taught by him, either. 
> 
> Before anyone points out that Heian age women always stayed behind their screens etc... I've just found out that wasn't the case with ladies-in-waiting. I (finally) started reading Sei Shonagon's _Pillow Book_ (I've had it for ages, I can't believe it took me this long to open it) and there's a passage where she complains about men who think the ladies who serve at court are frivolous just because they meet all kinds of people face-to-face. I'd been wondering about this, in fact, based on what I'd read before, but no one had said it straight out elsewhere. (That also means that the scene in the manga/anime in which Sai meets some ladies face-to-face wasn't any mistake like I once saw someone somewhere say.)
> 
> Hikaru's “lady friend”: I wanted her to be someone from the manga, and ended up picking Nase. But honestly, she could be just anyone. At first I thought of Kaneko, but somehow the princess turned out into a tiny Kaneko in my mind...
> 
> Oh, and this “tiny Kaneko”, aka the girl behind the screen, would have been princess Hiroko, one of emperor Suzaku's wives (though I don't know whether they were married already at this point or not). I'm not sure about how old she was then, as her birth date isn't known, but given that her father died on the same year Suzaku was born, she's probably a little older than him. Not much older, though, as her father was only 20 years old when he died (one of Suzaku's brothers, btw.)
> 
> Suzaku was a weird emperor, btw. According to wikipedia, he had only two wives (and no official empress) and one daughter (his younger brother became the emperor after him.) Compared to his father, Daigo, who had fourteen wives and 36 children – if I counted correctly – that's kind of pathetic. (No offense, Suzaku-tennou!)
> 
> Lol, I guess that's more than enough notes. This was the final “real” chapter, but there's still an epilogue left. So the story's not yet over!


	15. Epilogue

An average child, waking up in the middle of the night to the feeling that someone, or some _thing_ , is standing by his bed and watching him, would draw his covers over his head and lie unmoving, curled into a tight little ball, and wish it would just _go away_. Abe no Seimei was hardly an average child. He sat up, shot a glance across the room, and frowned.

“You,” he said, more surprised than he would have wanted to admit. “How are you still here?” As he got no reply, just a long, sad look, he gave a deep sigh and lay down again. “I'm tired. Can't you come back in the morning?”

He closed his eyes and attempted to go back to sleep, but the presence didn't waver. “Listen,” he said, not opening his eyes. “Your opponent was banished from the court. You got a promotion. Everyone's suddenly mourning you, no matter what they used to think. There are prayers and offerings in temples all across the city and the mountains. What else do you want?”

There was a long silence. Seimei took a peek at the ghost and saw it still standing unmoving by his bed. He sighed again. “I'll look into this tomorrow, okay? Please let me sleep now.” He rolled over, and felt the presence fade.

~

“I truly thought you had left for good,” Seimei muttered the next day. “There's been no sign of you at all, for three days.” He had left Tadayuki's mansion the first thing in the morning, not wanting to risk anyone noticing the ghost. He'd said something ambiguous about going to meet Hikaru, which was half true – Fujiwara no Kouyou's mansion was his ultimate goal, but first he had wanted to spend a moment in some quiet place where he wouldn't be disturbed, and think.

Now, after having come up with something of a plan, he was on his way toward the said mansion with the ghost tagging along a few steps behind him. He was deliberately avoiding the busier streets, though the likelihood of coming across someone with the ability of seeing spirits was quite unlikely. “You can't stay here,” he said, thinking aloud. “Not like this. You're just floating around without any connection to anything, invisible and insubstantial to the real world, and the only ones who can see you are those who'd start an exorcism without a second thought. Of course, it _would_ be best if you just gave up and left. Surely you can play go again in some later life...”

He gave the ghost a sidelong look and, seeing the polite but rather stubborn look, shook his head. “You go-players sure are a race of your own,” he muttered. “ _Obsessed_.” The ghost looked perhaps a little apologetic, but didn't lose a step following him. “I'm not sure if this is going to work, mind you,” he went on under his breath, “but I'll try. If it doesn't work... could you _please_ just leave?”

There was, of course, no reply. But, perhaps, the way the ghost looked down could have been taken for some kind of an agreement.

Arriving at the Fujiwara mansion, he was hardly surprised to find there not only Hikaru but Akira as well. What was quite surprising, though, was the fact that the two weren't absorbed in a game. Instead, Hikaru was bent over some papers, a deep frown on his brow and a pen in his hand. Akira was sitting by his side, watching his efforts with a blank expression.

“Oh, hi!” Noticing his new visitor, Hikaru put down his pen – very carefully, as if he were afraid he might break it. “Nice to see you! What brings you here?”

“I just thought I'd drop by,” Seimei said, eying the papers with interest. “Am I interrupting something?”

Hikaru looked down at the papers with a deep sigh. “No... or, well, maybe, but I could use a break anyway. I'm just writing a letter to, umm, you know, the...”

“Lady friend of yours?” Seimei suggested helpfully as his voice trailed off, and Hikaru frowned at him.

“Stop calling her my lady friend! But yeah, her. Explaining things. Though, well, I guess she knows all about me by now, but I thought I'd better send her a letter anyway. Akira's helping me with the characters.”

“And checking he doesn't say anything overly rude,” Akira added quietly, which earned him a frown too.

“Yeah, whatever. You people sure are prissy.” 

As he sat down next to them, Seimei took a short glance at what Hikaru had so far managed to scrawl down, and looked then politely away. Hikaru's frown deepened.

“Do you two share tips about eloquent silence, or is this too something all proper gentlemen can do?” he asked sullenly.

As he didn't quite understand the question, Seimei decided he might as well ignore it. “So you have found out who she is?”

“Yeah.” Hikaru sighed, and didn't look happy. “One of Princess Hiroko's ladies-in-waiting. Lady Asumi... of the Minamoto family. With some imperial blood, too, from her mother's side. Just figures.”

“Most people would be thrilled about having caught the attention of someone like her,” Akira put in.

Hikaru snorted. “I'm not 'most people'. And I'm pretty sure once she sees _this_ ,” he glowered down at his letter, “her attention will fade like a... like... like something that fades.”

There was a moment's silence. “By the way,” Seimei said then. “Have you heard the news? I just heard on my way here that Akitada got an official post somewhere in the northern provinces. Sado, I think it was.”

“What?” Hikaru cried out, enraged, while Akira burst into laughter.

“Come now, it's hardly something he's happy about. Technically it means he's been banished. We won't be hearing from him again... I'll show you Sado on the map some day. A northern province, as Seimei said, an island. When you're sent there, it's a clear sign you're not wanted back.”

“Hmm.” Hikaru didn't look quite convinced. “If they want to banish him, why don't they just, you know, _banish_ him?”

“This answers the same purpose well enough. And this way it's hard to complain – it's an honor, isn't it? To be granted a post in the service of the empire...” Akira looked still quite amused.

Hikaru gave him a look. “I'll never quite understand what's so horrible about the provinces,” he muttered.

“What about you? Have you already decided what you're going to do?” Seimei asked, deciding to change the subject.

Hikaru nodded. “I'll leave to Kawachi with Kou... with my father in a few days.” He pronounced the word 'father' quite carefully, as if still unsure whether he should be using it. “We thought it might be better for me to stay away for a while, let the dust fall down a little. I'll be coming back, though. Maybe after a year or so...”

Akira sighed. “I'm still not quite happy about this, but perhaps it is the best.”

“You could come to visit some day”, Hikaru suggested. “It's not such a long way, and I know father wouldn't mind. He enjoyed playing with you.”

“And I certainly enjoyed playing with him,” Akira stated with a thoughtful look. “I just might, if it's alright for him.”

“That's great.” Hikaru grinned, but turned soon more serious as he looked at his unfinished letter. “I should get this done,” he muttered. “We're leaving soon and there's still so much to do. Like, about my mother... I've been looking for a new place for her to stay. She said she wouldn't mind moving and leaving the house to Akane and Taro, and Akari too, of course, though Akari said she could follow my mother so that she wouldn't have to be alone. Actually, we asked mom if she'd like to stay here, but she's still hesitating... maybe it is a bit grand for her, but there's sure room enough for her to have a whole wing of her own here, and the whole place is quite empty all the time, now that Sai's not here anymore and K... father stays always at Kawachi...”

“This is a beautiful place, though,” Seimei said, without any idea who all these people Hikaru was talking about were. “Hard to imagine anyone wouldn't want to live here. But I shouldn't keep you from writing your letter...”

“Yeah.” Hikaru grimaced at the letter. He picked up his pen again, frowned. “So what's the character for 'going away'?”

“It depends a little.” Akira grasped a pen too, and took another piece of paper. “How exactly would you like to say it?”

Seimei stood up. “Let's talk more when you're finished. I'll wait in the garden.”

Hikaru gave an absentminded nod, doing his best to copy the characters Akira was drawing him. Seimei left the two, but didn't go to the garden as he had claimed he would. Instead, he wandered through the empty rooms of the mansion, until he found what he'd been looking for. A go board. 

He knelt down beside it, traced the lines with his fingers. As he looked up, he saw the ghost sitting at the opposite side of the board, as if they were about to play a game. He nodded a little. “If you're sure you really want this,” he whispered, and the ghost bowed. “Let's get started, then.”

He muttered the first part of the incantation he'd prepared. It _felt_ good, even though he didn't really have a clue about what he was doing. It was something of an improvisation, but apparently a successful one. He realized he'd been lucky to choose just this go board. Obviously it held many memories for Sai, of hundreds, if not thousands, of games played on it. He didn't have to build a connection, it already existed.

He took a breath and carried on with the incantation. As he looked up, he realized he barely saw the ghost anymore. Something shimmered in the air, made the opposite wall strangely distorted, but that was all. Slowly, so very slowly, that shimmering spread across the go board. The whole board shone softly, but slowly the light disappeared, for a moment remaining only on small dots on the wood that looked like tear marks. Then it finally faded completely away, and there was no sign left in the room of anything out of ordinary.

Seimei sat long quietly by the go board. “Rest well,” he whispered, touching lightly the cool wood. “I'm sure you'll have pleasant dreams, of all the games that will be played on this board, and certainly, some day...” 

“So here you are!” Hikaru's sudden voice made him start. “We were looking for you.”

He looked up in surprise. “Did you finish the letter already?”

“Already?” Hikaru gave a laugh and sat down beside him. “ _Finally_ , rather. We thought you grew tired of waiting.”

“No, I...” Seimei blinked at the go board, caught off guard. He had planned to go to the garden before anyone would miss him, but apparently time had passed faster than he'd realized.

Hikaru didn't notice his confusion. “Gods...” he breathed, stretching. “It really was quite painstaking. But I got it done. In readable handwriting, too! I guess I really do need to practice.” He sighed, heartfelt. “Such a pain... but I was thinking about it... if I wish to return here and make myself any kind of a career, it just can't be helped. I got to learn this stuff. So I'll study while I'm gone. Calligraphy and music and all this other nonsense... maybe poetry, too...” He shuddered a little, but brightened then. “And go. Definitely go, too. And I'll get better, and maybe, some day after I get back here, I'd be ready for that teaching position the emperor offered me.”

“Is that what you want?” Seimei asked, a little surprised. “I wouldn't have thought you'd want to be anywhere near the court.”

Hikaru grimaced. “I know. And it's not like I couldn't change my mind still... but I just thought that if I'm now gonna be a proper gentleman anyway, might as well go all the way, you know? And as Sai always said... at the palace I could spend all my days just playing go, against all the best opponents. That's about as high as you can get, in the world of go. It just might be worth it. Besides...” He fell silent for a moment. “I think it'd make Sai happy, if I got his position.”

He looked down at the go board, touched it softly with one finger. “I think it would...” he started to repeat quietly, but then he took a sharp breath and his eyes widened a little.

“What is it?” Seimei asked, leaning anxiously forward.

“I... I just...” Hikaru gave a little laugh, a bit embarrassed. “It's nothing, for a moment it just felt like Sai was here, right next to me. Must be the board, we played a lot on it...” He tapped it once and shook his head, sighing. “Things didn't end up quite like I was wishing, but... I don't know... I don't know what I was expecting. A story like this can't really have a happy ending, right?”

Seimei snorted. “There is no such thing, to begin with.”

“Do you have to be so pessimistic!” Hikaru exclaimed. “What's wrong with happy endings?”

“There is no such thing as an _ending_ , I meant.”

Hikaru gave the boy a long unblinking look. “You're a pretty weird kid, you know,” he finally stated.

“This from one whose life revolves around black and white stones on a checkered board?” Seimei asked with raised eyebrows, and Hikaru gave a laugh.

“I guess even the great onmyouji, with all their skills and secret wisdom, don't understand everything, huh?”

Seimei was about to reply, but quiet footsteps made them both glance at the doorway, where Akira soon appeared.

“Oh, I didn't know you were still here,” he said to Seimei and stopped in the doorway, hesitating.

“If you two wish to play,” Seimei said, guessing what it was all about, “I don't mind.” 

“Are you sure?” Hikaru asked grinning. “We might play long.”

“It's alright. I'll see if I can figure out some universal truth about go that all the wise men have so far missed.”

“I have no idea what you're talking about,” Akira said, entering the room. “But if you're sure you don't mind...” He sat down by the go board, and Hikaru turned to face him. Soon the room was echoing with the constant snaps of stones placed on a wooden board.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Northern provinces: when you think about northern Japan (or at least when I think about it) the first thing coming to mind would be Hokkaido. Now, the northern provinces weren't quite _that_ northern. In fact, Hokkaido wasn't a part of the Japanese empire in the Heian times. If you've got a map of Japan, Sado island is about half-way up, or a bit more, on the left side. (Heh, nice coordinates, huh?) It was a common place for exiles... from wikipedia:  
>  “When direct control from mainland Japan started around the 8th century, the island's remoteness meant that it soon became a place of banishment for difficult or inconvenient Japanese figures. Exile to remote locations such as Sado was a very serious punishment, second only to the death penalty, and people were not expected to return.”
> 
> I've earlier mentioned how important poetry was, but calligraphy... now, that was Important. A poem of not so great quality could be forgiven, if it was beautifully written, but combining bad poetry with bad handwriting... that was a lost case. “A fine hand was probably the most important single mark of a 'good' person, and it came close to being regarded as a moral virtue.” (WSP)  
> Hikaru does have a lot of work ahead, if he's going to follow his plan... 
> 
> But but but. This story is over. :D I'll just add here one more thing, something funny from _The Pillow Book_. It just came to my mind from Hikaru's calligraphy skills (or the lack of them). Nobutsune is a courtier with really bad handwriting:
> 
> _One day when Nobutsune was serving as Intendant in the Office of Palace Works he sent a sketch to one of the craftsmen explaining how a certain piece of work should be done. 'Kindly execute it in this fashion,' he added in Chinese characters. I happened to notice the piece of paper and it was the most preposterous writing I had ever seen. Next to his message I wrote, 'If you do the work in this fashion, it will certainly turn out strangely.' The document found its way to the Imperial apartments and everyone who saw it was greatly amused – except, of course, Nobutsune, who was furious and after this held a grudge against me._
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you for reading~!


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